3.4
Relevant community-related incidents
In 2011, the Bouterse government evicted Pamaka and non-Pamaka informal miners from a
location called Gowtu Bergi, or “Gold Hill”, which was Surgold’s main exploration and
development target within the Right of Exploration for Merian. While Surgold applied for a
Right of Exploitation for the development and mining of Gowtu Bergi and other gold
deposits in 2007, Surgold had not committed to developing the resource at the time of the
eviction. The 2011 eviction involved hundreds of miners, many of whom had recently
migrated to the area, mainly from Brazil, but also from Guyana, French Guyana and other
parts of Suriname. In characterizing the in-migration that occurred during this period, a
senior company representative described a “gold rush” and explained that the buoyant gold
price, combined with a reduced government presence, led to an unprecedented level of inmigration beyond what either the government or the traditional Pamaka authorities had
previously had to manage.
While the influx was unprecedented, Gowtu Bergi was one of several established informal
mining locations in the area. It was also the most prospective, with visible and easily
accessible gold. When Alcoa began exploration in 2001, the government of President
Venetian provided support to control informal miners to keep these areas available for
exploration by Suralco. As the influx of informal miners into Gowtu Bergi peaked in 2010,
Surgold lost government support on this issue. Company representatives told the Panel that
in early 2010 they met with the President but were unable to raise awareness about the
severity of the situation. According to Company representatives, the government was
reluctant to intervene due to the potential conflict this could have created before the May
2010 elections. In a 2010 press release, Surgold stated that it suspended exploration
activities due to law and order issues and safety concerns. Fatalities from informal mining
were reported in Suriname’s media in the months preceding the eviction.29
A new government agency established by the incoming President Bouterse undertook the
2011 eviction of informal miners from Gowtu Bergi. The Bouterse government established
Suriname’s Ordening Goudsector (known as “OGS”), the Planning Commission for the Gold
Sector, to manage the country’s informal gold mining sector. Under the previous
government, the removal of informal mining was delegated to the national police and
military. The Bouterse government required the Commission to negotiate with informal
miners rather than using physical force to enact evictions. Thus, while the 2011 eviction was
undertaken in the presence of the national police and the military, they did not carry it out.
The eviction process took a number of months. An exclusion zone was subsequently
established within Surgold’s Right of Exploration area to demarcate land designated for
29
See for example: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/archives/11/22/seven-die-in-surinamemine-collapse/
12