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

Recently Suralco concluded a joint exploration agreement with Newmont Mining of
Denver Colorado, one of the largest gold mining companies in the world. Prospecting is
now underway and the first indications are positive.
2.4 Efforts to bring the sub-sector under control
Between 1997 and 1999, the tax office initiated Operation Goldfinger. The secret service
and armed forces were recruited to execute the program. The first task was to register the
number of gold enterprises and gold miners working in the interior of Suriname. During
the registration exercise, miners were informed about the purpose and procedures of tax
collection in Suriname. The gold mining area was divided into 5 zones. It was reported
that 15,000 miners were registered after payment of an annual fee of US $ 200. Based on
these alleged registration figures it has been estimated that this operation resulted in a
government take of about 3 million US Dollars.
The second phase of the intervention was referred to as “Evergold.” The Government of
Suriname intended to create a sustainable infrastructure in the interior of Suriname to
undertake regulatory and revenue collecting activities. The Commission for the
Regulation of the Gold Sector was installed, and a plan was prepared to establish the
Foundation of Inter-Departemantal Units (Stichting Inter-Departementale Units; SIDU)
that would field Inter-Departmental Units (Inter-Departementale Units; IDU‟s) in five
strategic alluvial mining zones. Each field unit would consist of representatives of six
ministries, the CBvS and the National Institute for Environment and Development
(Natuur Instituut voor Milieu en Ontwikkeling van Suriname; NIMOS), the then newly
created environmental agency.
The statutes of SIDU called for the creation of a fund, replenished annually by a
percentage of the collected revenues. The fund would provide operational resources to
maintain the SIDU foundation and the IDUs in the field. The fund also was to provide
financial support to Indigenous and Maroon communities for their socio-economic
development. These provisions were progressive. The statutes did not specify, however,
what percentage of the collected revenues would be channeled back into the sub-sector.
Also it was not clear to what extent this effort was given a permanent institutional base
and infrastructure. Moreover, the plan greatly outpaced the provisions of the 1986 mining
code, raising questions down the line.
The activities of this SIDU foundation proved controversial. The media began to publish
critical reports on the procedures that were used to register miners and collect revenues,
putting pressure on the government. Opposition members posed questions in parliament
about the legality of the registration exercise vis-à-vis national labor laws. Miners were
efficiently registered but the procedure did not comply with the regulations for obtaining
a work permit in Suriname. The legality of the revenue collecting procedures and of the
administration of the fund was a subject of heated debate in parliament. The system was
set up parallel to the current mining code, and some argued that the government added a
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