The Gold Marketing Chain in Suriname - WWF, Abu Dhabi unveil ...

e levied for this crude gold and the way in which the amount owed to the State would be
determined was elaborately described in legislation.
Around the same time the Act on Gold Tax 11 (Wet op Goudbelasting) came into force and
concentrated on the height of gold tax, how the amount of taxes owed would be determined
and where and how it would be levied. (1894). It was an elaborate scheme in which crude gold
mined in different areas in Suriname had to be brought to different places for weighing. Gold
mined in Suriname had to be brought to Paramaribo, with the exception of gold mined in the
Marowijne area which had to be brought to Albina and gold mined in the Corantijn area which
had to be brought to Nieuw Nickerie. The Act on Gold Tax further stated that, in offering gold
for sale to the authorities, a tax of 7 cent per gram of the total weight as determined by these
authorities, had to be paid on the spot. Concessionaries working in navigable creeks and
streams were obliged to pay an additional retribution of one percent of the raw value of the
mined product. In order to determine the height of payment, the value of one gram of melted
gold was, by law, determined at ƒ1.50 and the value of a gram of unprocessed gold at ƒ1.37
(Decree of 12 Oct. 1903; G.B. No. 42) (ibid.).
In order to obtain a license as gold buyer, one had to obtain permission from the Governor.
Such permits were valid for one year, against an annual payment of ƒ250.‐. Regulations
concerning the sending of gold abroad by parcel, were laid down in the Decree of 30 Mei 1895
(G.B. No. 17) (ibid.).
As soon as the gold tax was implemented (1894) gold miners began seeking out ways to avoid
payment. They allegedly used powisi’s (Crax alector) to hide their gold 12 . These large black,
white‐bellied forest birds are attracted to shiny objects. The miners would catch a powisi in the
forest and encourage it to pick up the (dust)gold together with other grains, to subsequently
take it along the police posts. It is estimated that at least ten percent of produced gold was not
declared in those days (SPS 2003: 13).
Also Maroons collected taxes on the extraction of resources from their territories (De Theije
and Heemskerk 2010). The Aluku Maroon granman allegedly asked a gold tax from every boat
of miners passing a certain point in the Lawa River.
11 Act on Gold tax, G.B. 1945 no. 142, last amended in G.B. 1946 no. 15 and repealed by G.B. 1950 no. 56. The Act
was repealed because the State considered the distressing times the gold mining industries were going through.
12 This practice may have been in use until the 1940s
17