Mining industry of Suriname

Development of a second large scale mine called the Merian Gold Project was approved by the government of Suriname on June 7, 2013.

[8] Because of unemployment in Suriname, some local people turn to small, illegal gold mining as their source of incomes.

[17][18] On March 1, 2013, Kaloti Mint House Suriname laid its funding stone and is expected to start its refinery production by the first quarter of 2014.

[21] In October 2013, the United Nations wanted to adopt the Minamata Treaty to ban the user of mercury altogether in Suriname.

[22][23] The Government of Suriname initiated a training unit within the Ordening Goudsector called the School of Mining.

The Management of Ordening Goudsector hypothesizes that showing small-scale gold miners the benefits of new production methods will be the incentive itself to start the training programs.

However it is important to note that data show that the interesting area to mine, especially for the small-scale miners who look for alluvial gold, is the Greenstone belt.

The mining of bauxite in Suriname has been known since 1915 and its export dates back to 1922, with the start of its exploitation by the American company Alcoa.

[27] The strategic nature of this resource allowed Suriname to benefit from the protection of the United States during World War II, and to attract investments from large companies such as Shell, BHP and Alcoa.

[26] Afobaka Dam was built between 1961 and 1964 on the Suriname River to produce energy for the electrolysis process for the production of aluminium from bauxite at the Suralco alumina refinery which was managed by Alcoa from 1965 to 2017.

[30] In September 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Suriname to discuss the country's oil potential, meets with and congratulates new President Chan Santokhi, and touted U.S. companies facing competition from China to exploit the country's natural resources.