text: The world’s leading gold mining company has paid compensation to 11 women in remote Papua New Guinea after they were raped by the firm’s security guards and police, it was revealed today. The US-based Barrick Gold, which boasts that it is the world’s leading gold mining company, reached the out-of-court settlement when the women threatened to file a lawsuit in the US. One of the women was just a 14-year-old girl attending school in the northern Enga province when she was raped in 2010, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported today. An American gold mining company has paid what is beleived to be a six-figure compensation to 11 women after they were raped by the firm’s security guards and police patrolling Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea . She and her classmates had made string bags for police officers who had been moved into the area to increase security around the company’s Porgera gold mine. Several police officers offered to pay her for her bags and offered to take her to an ATM to draw out the money. But she was taken, instead, to the mine site where she claims one of the armed policemen raped her. Barrick Gold, which boasts that it is the world’s leading gold mining company, reached the out-of-court settlement when the women threatened to file a lawsuit in the US . She told the ABC’s Pacific Beat programme before the settlement was reached that as a result of the rape ‘I am now suffering - I would have been somebody if I completed my education. ‘I was the best student in my class. Because of the rape my future is ruined.’ A second woman, identified as Jane Doe 4, has revealed how she was collecting firewood when she was surrounded by security guards from the mine. Victims include a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was raped by police patrolling mine in 2010 . ‘They hit me. They pushed me and I fell on some of the sharp rocks. ‘Two of the guards, they took turns in raping me. I suffered very badly.’ The ABC said allegations of brutality had surrounded the mine even before Barrick Gold took it over in 2006. In 2011 the allegations were exposed when a Human Rights Watch report documented six alleges cases of gang rape by the mine’s security guards. Responding to the report, Barrick set up a ‘remedial framework’ to provide compensation to victims of brutality and more than 130 women accepted payments of around $10,000, as long as they agreed not to take any future legal action. But 11 women rejected the offer as being grossly inadequate and planned a lawsuit in Nevada, where Barrick Gold has a number of mining operations. Now, after mediation, the mining company and the women have reached a confidential settlement and are said by Earth Rights International to be ‘pleased with the results they are getting at this point.’ In a joint statement between Barrick Gold and Earth Rights International, it was announced that ‘the women will receive compensation under the Porgera remedy framework and a payment in connection with their participation in the mediation process.’
target: Barrick Gold reached an out-of-court settlement with the 11 rape victims .
  Includes a 14-year-old schoolgirl raped by police patrolling mine in 2010 .
  The US gold mining giant offered $10,000 but was rejected as 'inadequate'
  Women are thought to have been offered compensation  in the six figures .