BARRICK'S North Mara mine has experienced an uncontrolled release of low-quality water to the environment following the unexpected failure of a water transfer pipeline along the haul road between the Gokona and Rama operations.

Barrick Group Sustainability Executive, Grant Beringer, said in a statement that appropriate authorities have been notified and the company is working with them to monitor the receiving environment.

Although the volume of water released was minor, the North Mara environmental team immediately sampled the receiving waterbodies.

He said preliminary water quality results show that there is no immediate impact on the receiving water bodies and no risk to the community or the aquatic biodiversity of the river.

The mine will supply water to the community should it be needed.

"We will continue our sampling over the next days and will report the data to the authorities and communities," he said.