President Jennifer Simons says the government intends to radically reorganise the gold sector and structurally increase oversight of mining activities in the interior, adding ‘it cannot be a free-for-all’.
Simons said that the situation has been left unchecked for years and that the system of ad-hoc intervention is no longer sufficient. She said new permits, extensions, and transfers have been temporarily halted, mining companies will be inspected, and polluting activities may be shut down.
In addition, the use of mercury must also be phased out, and the government wants to prevent small-scale gold miners from switching to cyanide.
Simons, speaking during an emergency meeting of Cabinet to discuss the results of the investigation into the pollution of the Saramacca River, said while the findings regarding the fish mortality are not only grounds for taking action against an individual company, the way gold mining takes place in Suriname must change structurally.
‘We have gold everywhere in Suriname, but we cannot search for gold everywhere,’ President Simons said, adding it must be clearly defined where mining is and is not permitted, and under what conditions.
She said previous government attempts to bring order to the sector have been insufficiently effective.
One of the first measures is the temporary suspension of new permits, renewals, and transfers. The government said also that it then intends to systematically scrutinize legal artisanal gold mining.
President Simons acknowledged that this will not be a simple operation, given that the situation has largely been passive for decades.
The government intends to use satellite imagery, among other things, to detect more quickly where new mining or deforestation activities are emerging. Special teams of police, army, and security services must then be able to be deployed to take action on the ground.
She said that the gold sector would contribute towards the financing of this initiative with funds needed for laboratories, police, and military support.
‘We should actually get that out of that same gold sector,’ she said, adding that an important part of the new policy will be reducing the use of hazardous chemicals.
President Simons said that while mercury is banned it is still being used and a s a result, she is calling for a process to effectively eliminate its use from gold mining giving a possible time frame of five to seven years.
Simons has also warned against a trend where gold prospectors who have switched to using cyanide without sufficient knowledge of the risks, noting that this could actually lead to serious incidents insisting that small-scale gold mining should not involve cyanide.
President Simons said that the new policies go beyond merely monitoring mining companies with the government seeking to better protect communities close to rivers where mining occurs.
Simons said that certain areas will be designated as specially protected areas, meaning that no mining activities may take place there. Furthermore, she said the environmental problem should no longer be treated as a matter for a single ministry and that the Public Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV), the environmental authorities, land management, and other involved government services must act jointly.
The capacity to investigate pollution within Suriname itself must also be expanded. President
Simons acknowledged that enforcement is becoming one of the biggest problems and that the government does not have sufficient police and military personnel to maintain a permanent presence in the vast interior.
She said that while the government cannot promise that the problem will be solved in the short term, it intends to deal effectively with the current situation.
‘We start and we continue, regardless, without regard to person,’ he said, adding that the message to the sector is that gold mining remains necessary for the economy, but can no longer take place without clear boundaries.
‘It cannot be a free-for-all,’ she added.