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

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have to be motivated to observe the rule of law. Security is also a key issue in the mining zones. In many mining areas the rule of law has to be re-established, not only with respect to immigration and labor. Crime rates must be reduced significantly, and this is an important opportunity for gaining the support of miners who live and work under continuous threat in many places in the interior. The new legal instruments and institutions have to provide tenure security, but also ensure the safety of miners. Recently the chairman of the Association of Brazilian Garimpeiros in Suriname (COGASUR) suggested in the media that the registration fee should be re-introduced. At least it provided some semblance of legality. Three basic lessons can be learned from this experience: 1. Sufficient operational resources were available to fund the SIDU undertaking, but the resources by themselves were not enough to guarantee success. Reinvesting a legally specified percentage of sub-sector revenues would provide a more predicable basis from which to plan, organize, and execute control type interventions. 2. The effort did not sufficiently emphasize Noetstaller‟s second critical condition – support programs for miners to reduce operational constraints and improve security. This is a critical condition for securing miner‟s support as well as fending off criticism in the media that puts the government under pressure to retract its policies and strategies. The effort first honed in on securing fiscal revenues, when a support program was urgently needed to help miners attain legal status and improve their mining methods. Giving priority to an assistance program to reduce the negative environmental impact of the sub-sector could have helped enlist broad public support for a reform effort. 3. There is a lack of an up-to-date and functional mining legislation that reflects the realities of the sub-sector. The law does not sufficiently acknowledge the limitations faced by miners in the field, and underestimates the institutional framework that must be in place before the sub-sector can be brought under control. The absence of a strong and broadly supported policy base will makes it difficult to enforce new regulations that are based on the new draft law. Therefore, in the case of Suriname, a third negative circle may be needed to clarify the root causes of the problems plaguing the SSM sector: a negative cycle resulting from the lack of funds to finance a field presence, limited government information resulting in inappropriate policies, ineffective legislation leading to non-compliance and free riding. The diagram on the next page outlines this negative cycle. Basic principles of mining legislation from other countries must be studied and applied, but when used, these principles must also be carefully adapted to the day-to-day reality of the SSM sector in Suriname. 96
Uncontrolled sub-sector No funds to finance field presence Limited information Non-compliance inappropriate policies free riding Ineffective legislation and regulations The legislative drafting and approval process in Suriname is time consuming. It makes no sense to traverse the lengthy legislative development and approval route every other year to get new legislation approved in order to accommodate a rapidly changing sub-sector. Therefore, many issues should be regulated at the ministerial rather than at the legislative level. However, to be effective, the basic regulatory principles on which the ministerial regulations are based must enjoy broad support from stakeholders. Therefore, a well developed mining policy is the first essential ingredient in the regulatory process. Again, we stress the significance of developing a gold mining policy. Evidence collected in the field suggests that miners are more than willing to live by the miner‟s law and any new rules that are drafted, but these codes have to be grounded in reality; they should be functional. Every miner wants to be protected by codes and an enforcement agency using reasonable and equitable rules. The alternative is to run the risk of getting robbed, injured or killed by gangs now stalking the mining areas and access roads to the interior. Reform efforts cannot rely solely on new regulations. Ongoing economic, organizational, technical and social assistance will also be needed to transform the alluvial mining sector into a safe and less destructive means of earning a livelihood. To create an enabling environment for SSM in Suriname, a three-prong approach will be recommended. In developing its basic policy options, it is suggested that GOS develop at least three interdependent avenues of approach: 1) Functional legislation and regulations that enjoy broad stakeholder support 2) Institutional capacity to intervene and eliminate undesirable practices 3) Assistance to miners to reduce operational constraints and improve security The diagram below illustrates the interdependent relationship between these three regulatory and support dimensions, as well as the qualities they should possess. It is not enough to have regulations, they must be functional and the administrative infrastructure must be present in the field to apply them efficiently. Assistance should also be provided 97
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SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL-SCA
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4.6 Concession holders and miners 4
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACT Amazone C
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PREFACE The Suriname gold sector ha
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The World Wildlif
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Furthermore, the proposed Inter Dep
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The consultants ap
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Chapter I INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 ou
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government with their experience in
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Zoning of mining areas. The third i
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known. The risk of water- and air-b
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1.5 Root causes Why is it so diffic
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Box 1: The administrative presence
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NW-SE greenstone belt between the G
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of inappropriate equipment soon tra
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other goods imported from Paramarib
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their property to a foreign explora
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second informal system to the exist
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Hydraulic mining was outlawed in Ca
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Chapter III SOCIAL DIMENSIONS In th
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3.2 The second gold rush Until the
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3.3. Life in the mines Life in the
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In contrast to the Brazilian migran
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spouse, and jeopardizes their acces
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Chapter IV MINING CLASSIFICATION AN
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of its original rock structure and
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concentrate is panned with mercury.
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6. conjunction with another excavat
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4.3 The classification scheme of No
Page 59 and 60: capital invest in such an enterpris
Page 61 and 62: Most workers are paid a percentage
Page 63 and 64: least earn some income from mining
Page 65 and 66: Fixed costs Operator (150 gr. p. m.
Page 67 and 68: Finally, the concession holder who
Page 69 and 70: Table 7. Differences in organizatio
Page 71 and 72: government‟s policy to phase out
Page 73 and 74: Institutional: It provides guidance
Page 75 and 76: The rights of Indigenous, Maroon an
Page 77 and 78: institutions will be involved, both
Page 79 and 80: nature, mode of occurrence and quan
Page 81 and 82: into several categories, basically
Page 83 and 84: classification of sub-sectors in th
Page 85 and 86: over a period of five or more years
Page 87 and 88: To this day, however, little progre
Page 89 and 90: To issue licenses to small-scale mi
Page 91 and 92: NB is part of the Forestry Departme
Page 93 and 94: This development was anticipated by
Page 95 and 96: in the interior on a regular basis.
Page 97 and 98: community at the best of their abil
Page 99 and 100: Help guide law drafters and law mak
Page 101 and 102: and social laws. An intricate syste
Page 103 and 104: Table 11. Economic importance of pl
Page 105 and 106: and likely underestimates the real
Page 107 and 108: 7.1 Summary of the findings Chapter
Page 109: the legalization of the activity th
Page 113 and 114: development leading to a practical
Page 115 and 116: Hierarchical zoning of SSGM The pro
Page 117 and 118: 13.2 Langatete Zone 13.3 Cottica Zo
Page 119 and 120: critical, as use of their infrastru
Page 121 and 122: evised proposal to reflect the outc
Page 123 and 124: 13 De Vletter, D.R., and A.L 1998 t
Page 125 and 126: 32 Maatschap van Geologen en Mijnbo
Page 127: 51 World Bank 1998 Environmental As
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SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL-SCALE GOLD ... - WWF

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