HomeNewsDestructive Gold Mining Plagues Suriname, French Guiana Border
NEWS

Destructive Gold Mining Plagues Suriname, French Guiana Border

GOLD / 30 MAY 2022 BY SCOTT MISTLER-FERGUSON EN

Large-scale illegal gold mining is operating in plain sight on the Lawa River, a natural border between French Guiana and Suriname, despite public efforts from both governments to end the environmentally destructive practice. 

Photographs obtained by InSight Crime show at least six gold dredgers, or skalians, as they're known in Suriname, operating on the river earlier in May.

Illegal mining operations have garnered widespread condemnation for the environmental degradation they cause in both Suriname and French Guiana

SEE ALSO: Dirty Business - The Smuggling Pipeline Carrying Mercury Across the Amazon

The use of the heavy metal, mercury, which binds to gold, is especially detrimental. Runoff mercury pollutes the river and its populations of fish, damaging an important source of food for local indigenous communities, local media have reported.

Mining dredgers on the Lawa River. Credit: ProBios

According to Starnieuws, a local news website, the Surinamese government has acknowledged the presence of these dredgers on the river and pledged to take action to get rid of them. 

InSight Crime Analysis

The presence of dredgers in the area is nothing new, but their continued operation despite the clear detrimental impact on the local environment raises questions about the political will from either side of the river to curb illegal gold mining.

Dredgers are commonly used in South America for river gold mining, particularly in illegal zones, because of the relative ease for operators to move quickly and relocate should authorities crack down on them. 

Erlan Sleur, an environmental expert and founder of the nongovernmental organization ProBios, which is dedicated to protecting Suriname’s biodiversity, told InSight Crime that this is exactly what the miners photographed in May have been doing. 

“From the photographs, it seems they have been working for a long time already. If you see the destruction in the forest on the riverside, it’s clear that this isn’t a recent activity,” Sleur said.

Mining dredges on the Lawa River. Credit: ProBios

Despite the presence of French and Surinamese military on the river, miners have not been captured nor had their dredgers and equipment seized.

According to Sleur, the security forces’ inaction is due to a lack of political will and a tense relationship between the two governments when it comes to the border. 

“There have been some tensions especially when the French police and the army seized some [dredgers] about five years ago,” stated Sleur, in reference to military operations conducted by the French government to seize and destroy gold mining dredgers on territory claimed by Suriname.

Border delineation issues on the Lawa Rivers, as well as Maroni River, were officially resolved last year. This should have paved the way for a tougher stance on illegal mining by both governments. Yet Sleur contends that the Surinamese government remains an obstacle to completely erasing illegal mining on the river.

“I know my government is corrupt. They are part of the problem, as many people within the government are stakeholders within these activities,” claimed Sleur. 

SEE ALSO: Corruption, Cocaine and Gold - The Trials Facing Suriname's New President

The Surinamese government, headed by President Chan Santokhi certainly inherited a challenging situation. It is a coalition government whose vice president, Ronnie Brunswijk, is a convicted drug trafficker and fugitive from Interpol. Before being elected, Brunswijk had at least six gold concessions, though these have now been handed over to a foundation. One Dutch reporter claimed these concessions had been illegally acquired.

Thus the ties between the government and gold mining in the country, rife under former president and convicted murderer, Dési Bouterse, remain today. During Bouterse’s reign, even the mint house was connected to illegal gold mining activity, according to a report by IBI Consultants.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ELITES AND CRIME / 2 JUN 2022

From unchecked agricultural development to wildlife trafficking, corruption greases the wheels of every environmental crime in the Peruvian Amazon.

AUC / 8 SEP 2021

As gold prices have skyrocketed, criminal groups once solely dedicated to the trafficking of drugs and arms have moved into…

ECUADOR / 20 JAN 2023

Podocarpus Natural Park in southern Ecuador is only the most recent one to be threatened by encroaching gold miners.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…