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

PREFACE
The Suriname gold sector has been characterized by the usual boom and bust cycles.
Inspired by gold discoveries across the border in the France department of La Guyane
(French Guiana), the sector took off during the last quarter of the 19 th century. Most of
the commercial reserves were discovered in the so-called greenstone belt, extending from
north-central to south-east Suriname.
By 1908, production peaked at 1209 kilograms per year and then began to decline. The
construction of a 180 kilometer railroad, linking the capital city of Paramaribo to the gold
fields, did not stem the decline in production. Investments and steam shovels and
dredging equipment did not produce the desired results, and many concessions were sublet
to small-scale miners from the Caribbean, using less sophisticated methods. The
Maroons (descendants of escaped slaves) transported miners and their equipment over the
treacherous rapids of the interior rivers. On the eve of independence in 1975 gold
production was reduced to a trickle. Poor organization and management, insufficient
prospecting, improper technology and uncontrolled mining, but also the high cost of labor
and mining in very remote locations contributed to the decline of the sector.
After 1975 gold production techniques in Guyana inspired Suriname miners to invest in
river dredging and a large contingent of Guyanese miners came to work in the gold fields,
alongside Maroon miners. The second gold boom got underway in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1980s land dredging replaced river dredging as the most commonly used method,
and as the years wore on more and more heavy equipment was introduced into the
production cycle. Brazilian gold miners soon outnumbered Guyanese miners, and it is
estimated that over 10.000 Brazilian miners are now active in the sector alongside
Maroon miners. Many of the operations in the interior are not legal.
Uncontrolled small- to medium-scale gold mining has a negative impact on the
environment and poses severe health risks for the miners and communities in the interior.
The greatest environmental risks are posed by the use of mercury in the ore extraction
process and the tailings and siltation caused by hydraulic mining. The Geological and
Mining Department (GMD) of the Ministry of Natural Resources is aware of these
problems and has developed several projects in order to mitigate the negative impact of
small-scale mining.
The World Wildlife Fund is currently funding “The Guianas Sustainable Forest
Resources Management Project,” and in this context a sub-project is being executed by
the GMD. The purpose of this sub-project is to internally strengthen the GMD,
particularly the Mines Inspection Department, so that it can better manage the small- to
medium-scale gold mining sector and help preserve priority eco-systems.
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