SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL-SCALE GOLD ... - WWF

in the words of the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto) already offer a solid basis for
the development of effective laws and regulations.
The third one is that in the SSM sub-sector “remote control management” has never
worked, and never will. The nature of the industry requires an on-site presence of senior
management. Even excellent organizational set-ups in Paramaribo have proven to be a
poor substitute for on-site senior management. The government also needs to zone the
mining regions and establish a permanent presence in at least the 14 main mining regions
that have been identified in this report, preferably along-side the private sector mining
zone management systems that are already in place. Partnering between the government
and the private sector can help strengthen the position of both stakeholders. Involvement
of civil society organization is also essential.
Harmonization of mining policy in the three Guianas is critical to avoid regulatory
opportunism, resulting in the crossing of national borders by miners to avoid more
demanding environmental, reporting, royalty or tax regulations in one of the countries.
Harmonization, however, requires that the SSGM regulations of Suriname, Guyana, and
the French department of La Guyane are up to date and functional.
If this is not the case for one of the three countries, the respective government should at
least have a clear indication of what direction it wants to go with the SSM sector. It must
have an idea of how the sub-sector can contribute to the development of the country, and
the environmental and health standards which apply. It should be a vision set out in a
policy framework. In Suriname, mining laws and regulations do not yet reflect the current
realities in the SSGM regions and zones; they are out of date. The government has not
developed an integrated stand-alone policy for the gold mining sector with a special
chapter devoted to the particular challenges posed by the SSM sector.
Other obstacles to proposed changes in the sector include; educational levels, literacy,
cultural and language barriers are all significant issues to regulatory reform in the gold
mining sector. Almost the entire greenstone belt has been given out to large-scale,
medium-scale enterprises and speculators, thus the chances of finding a free mine site is
very small. Under the current circumstances most gold mining will remain illegal.
In view of the complexity of the subject and the vast range of issues that have to be
addressed and resolved, a specific policy is needed for the SSGM sector, which should
dove tails satisfactorily with the government‟s overall gold mining policy. Draft laws
were formulated without a clear integrated stand-alone gold mining policy and a specific
policy framework for SSM. Efforts should be made to involve the entire Suriname
community in the policy making, and only when broad support is secured on a number of
basic principles (for example, „the polluter pays”), should these principles be used to
draft laws that will then be debated in Parliament. Saddling a Minister with this chore is
to invite controversy. In order to survive politically, most Ministers would simply dodge
the issues, and avoid making decisions
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