Artisan Gold mining
Suriname artisan and small-scale miners use mechanized methods and the banned mercury-based amalgamation process trying to find their luck in the gold rush at the Benzdorp area in district Sipaliwini, near the French Guiana border, some 300 km southeast from capital Paramaribo. Apart from the irresponsible deforestation and craters, the mercury pollutes the soil, air, vegetation and water.
There are no official reports on the number of wildcat miners operating legal or illegally. The majority of workers are Brazilians, known as gareimperos, who enter the country via illegal routes or fled to Suriname since operation ‘Harpie’ in March 2008 against illegal mining in French Guiana. They are closely followed by maroons, or porknokkers, living in 50% of the country’s dense forest.
Next to the incomes of gold selling, the service economy as renting housing, equipment, food & beverages, prostitution and gambling also provides in this gold rush.
Working method
The miners use mechanized methods including hydraulic machines, backhoe excavators, tractors, crushers, and other industrial devices. They blast away the soil with a hydraulic power hose, which then is transported through the suction hose to the sluice box. Afterwards they use a mercury-based amalgamation process to extract the gold. All the mercury floods back into the rivers and creeks.
In this production facility, the crush method is in use. The ore is delivered by dumping trucks, an excavator pushes it into a basin, and water is added, then into the crushers and it turns into sludge. A mercury-based amalgamation process is used to extract the gold from the sludge. At last, the mercury floods back into the rivers and creeks.
This is the high-pressure water cannon method. An excavator digs a basin and channel. After that, the soil is blasted away with a hydraulic power hose, which then is transported through the suction hose to the sluice box. Afterwards they use a mercury-based amalgamation process to extract the gold. All the mercury floods back into the rivers and creeks.
ArtnPhoto/Edward Troon