Gold mining is an integrated part of the economic structure of Suriname and Guyana. Thousands rely on this industry for income. But there is a high price to pay. Deforested areas, polluted rivers and poisoned fish and people are evident. WWF Guianas is part of the solution to these problems.

"We understand that people benefit from gold mining, but we need to educate them on the health risks they face and on the impacts their actions have on the environment, and to improve their practices", said Dominiek Plouvier, WWF Guianas regional representative, after the field trip to Antino in southern Suriname.

Along with him went Rickford Vieira, WWF Guianas Gold mining Pollution abatement Coordinator, Mrs. Tanya van Gool, Ambassador of the Netherlands and Mr. Jean-Marie Bruno, Ambassador of France, both stationed in Suriname and Mr. Francois Cornu from the French Development Bank (AFD).

This field trip was intended to give the ambassadors a first hand look of what the circumstances in gold mining are on the ground, and to see if WWF Guianas and its partners correctly spend the donor funds, in order to get their support for funding of the second phase of the WWF Guianas Forestry project that is currently being developed.

After the one hour flight form Paramaribo, the capitol of Suriname, the delegation arrived in Antino, where Mr. Henk Naarendorp, concession holder, welcomed them. In a presentation he gave a quick overview of what the processes of mining and the size of the operations there are. On this concession, many Brazilian and Surinamese miners are allowed to work.

The team went to visit several miners in the area. At these sites the process of mining was explained to the visitors. The ambassadors got a close up view of how gold is mined and what the direct impacts are on the environment.

The first miner did only primary processing, which encompasses, the breaking of the rocks that contain gold and adding mercury (amalgam) to remove gold out of the rocks.

The other miners using the secondary processing, melt the amalgam to fully retrieve the gold. They put the amalgam in a retort, heat it up to separate the mercury from the gold. The mercury vapors are guided through a tube that ends up in a bucket of water, where it is condensed, so that it can be reused. By doing so, the miner is not exposed to the highly toxic mercury vapors, and he is able to reduce his cost for gold processing. Next to the benefits for humans, the environment is protected as well. The miners at Antino are required to process gold with retorts.

The devastation of the forest through gold mining is expanding rapidly in the interior of Suriname. Large degraded areas disturb the beautiful forests. The soil that is removed causes erosion to the land, and mud to enter the rivers. This turbidity causes many species of fish to die and leaves the water in consumable.

Mrs. Tanya van Gool said that what WWF Guianas does is good, but it is very little in comparison to the scale of gold mining in the Guianas. "While looking at the environmental impacts of gold mining, the social and health issues should also be considered", said Mrs. van Gool. The French Ambassador MR. Jean-Marie Bruno, stated that the area is large and the problems are many, therefore, it is imperative that the management of mining operations is promoted and good legislation put in place.

WWF Guianas deliberately chooses to work with gold miners in order to get acquainted with their social and economic needs. Only from that perspective WWF Guianas believes it can find ways to promote the sustainable use of the region’s natural resources, in order to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of these activities in the region.

SOURCE: http://www.wwfguianas.org/our_work/goldmining/wwf_partners1.cfm