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

absence of consultation requirements; the violation of their traditional rights to land and
natural resources; the omission of legal protection for forest peoples; the lack of
guarantees for equal benefits from mining profits; and the inadequate compensation
provisions.
With regards to the purchasing of gold, an evaluation of changes in the policy shows that
the Centrale Bank van Suriname (Central Bank of Suriname, CvBS) has been quite
adaptive to customary practices in marketing. From being the sole purchaser, it has now
opened up the buying market. Today the Bank itself merely serves as a regulatory body
and collector of royalties. The role of licensed private sector involvement should be
extended to the interior, so that better control can be exercised at the source of
production. The role of mine inspectors in the process of gold buying in the interior is
also critical, once again indicating the importance of a government presence in the remote
mining areas.
The report recommends that the following sequence be observed in order to achieve
successful interventions in the sub-sector:
Zone the mining regions and further organize the SSM community;
Provide management assistance training to SSM enterprises under the established
organizational umbrella(s);
Develop new legislation and regulations based on both an integrated stand-alone
national policy for SSM, as well as useful customs and practices in the field, and
taking into account the legal and institutional framework in the neighboring
countries and;
Institute monitoring and regulatory instruments based on a permanent government
presence in the mining regions of the interior with private sector assistance
This approach does not simply recommend placing the “carrot before the stick.” On the
contrary, already in the early stages of the reorganization of the SSM sub-sector, and
better management non-active permits holders will have to relinquish their claims in
order to make room for the titling of SSM enterprises still operating in the informal
sector. It is argued that the main challenge is to develop a balanced menu of assistance
and control interventions and to avoid the one-sided approaches of the past: Intervention
and control is required to in order to eliminate unacceptable work practices typical for
informal SSM activities; while assistance is a prerequisite for the removal of operational
constraints limiting productivity and competitiveness
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