development of the project. 30 In exchange for moving miners from Gowtu Bergi, the
President personally guaranteed the Pamaka an alternative mine site, which would be
recognized as a legitimate artisanal mining area.
In 2012, Surgold agreed to a request by the Bouterse government to relinquish a 5000
hectare portion of its Right of Exploration area to create a mining reserve for Pamaka
informal miners. However, the reserve was not as prospective as Gowtu Bergi and only a
handful of miners now work in this area. Surgold representatives explained to the Panel that
they had since identified other potential mining locations, but that the matter of formalizing
mining at a new site had not been resolved. The company also explained that Gowtu Bergi is
a unique geological occurrence within the Right of Exploration for Merian and that the
likelihood of identifying an area of equal prospectivity, and which could be made available
for informal mining, was low.
In 2015, informal miners entered the exclusion zone established in 2011. According to the
company, these miners had been working outside the southern border of the exclusion zone
for several years. The Gold Commission evicted the miners. Several months later, a group of
informal miners and others from Langatabiki blockaded the public road used to access the
Merian site. The protest lasted four days and appeared to be related to Pamaka grievances
concerning land dispossession, the loss of livelihood due to eviction from Gowtu Bergi, and
the unresolved issue of an alternative mining location. The roadblock was lifted when the
company agreed to hold talks with the Pamaka Negotiating Committee (see below). Since
the 2015 eviction and the road blockade, there have been several smaller movements into
the exclusion zone by informal miners. On 29 July 2015, a trainer working for the private
security firm that provides services to Surgold shot and wounded two small-scale miners
who entered the Merian site. 31
According to senior Newmont representatives, the company did not instruct the
Government of Suriname to evict informal miners from Gowtu Bergi, and later from within
the exclusion zone. Company representatives explained that Surgold works closely with the
government, reports encroachments of informal miners into the project area, and that it is
the government’s duty to enforce evictions when the company reports encroachments. The
government notified Surgold in advance of the 2011 and 2015 evictions. Newmont
representatives stated that the company did not coordinate with or assist the government
in the eviction. The company did respond to requests by the government to provide low
boys (i.e. heavy transport equipment) to facilitate the removal of informal mining
equipment that had been operating in Gowtu Bergi before the evictions. Newmont provided
training on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights to public and private
30
Informal mining on Pamaka territory continued in the southern portion of the Right of Exploration
area.
31
See: http://sustainabilityreport.newmont.com/2015/_pdf2print/pdfs/newmont-beyond-the-minesustainability-report-2015.pdf
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