Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the government promised the Nieuw Koffiekamp gold miners an area of 8,000 ha
outside of the concession. As a precondition, all small-scale miners would leave the
Gros Rosebel concession. The Ndjuka miners from the Nieuw Koffiekamp community
objected, however, because the selected zone was too far from the village (18km) and
situated in the traditional territory of another Maroon tribal group, the Matawai
(Brana-Shute et al. 2001).
The opposing interests of government, company, small-scale gold miners and
Nieuw Koffiekamp villagers continued to clash. In the following years, conflicts
between the small-scale gold miners and the company erupted in various forms and
degrees of intensity (Commissie voor Nieuw Koffiekamp 1996; Healy 1996; Brana-
Shute et al. 2001). In 1995, Nieuw Koffiekamp residents complained that they were
intimidated and fired at by company guards and police units, allegations that were sub-
stantiated by Suriname's main human rights organisation (Healy 1996). In response,
the villagers built roadblocks to prevent access to the company plant. This incident
motivated the establishment of the Commission for Nieuw Koffiekamp, composed
of representatives of the national government, village authorities, and tribal leaders
with the purpose of achieving a compromise (Healy 1996). The Commission drafted
an agreement, which stated that the community lands of Nieuw Koffiekamp would
be demarcated, presumably as a first step towards the legal recognition of the tribal
land rights. Furthermore, the gold miners of Nieuw Koffiekamp would obtain an
alternative mining concession, outside the Gros Rosebel property, and suspend mining
activities on the company concession. Gold miners from other villages were excluded.
The NieuwKoffiekamp gold miners initially approved of the draft agreement and with-
drew their machines from the concession. However, when both the government and
the company failed to respond to the agreement and thus did not live up to promises
of demarcation and alternative mining grounds, the gold miners restarted mining at
the company concession (Healy 1996; Brana-Shute et al. 2001). They legitimised their
behaviour by arguing that this was their tribal land and hence they, not the company,
were the rightful owners of its resources. This illustrates how the Nieuw Koffiekamp
community operates as a semi-autonomous social field (Moore 1973: 55), engaging
different legal orders to counter emerging threats.
Today, the legal rights to the former Golden Star Resources concession are owned
by mining multinational Iamgold, which operates locally as Rosebel Gold Mines N.V.
The earlier conflicts have not been resolved, but the Nieuw Koffiekamp community
and the large-scale mining company have meanwhile managed to create a peaceful
coexistence. The initiation and maintenance of this ceasefire have largely been facil-
itated by the self-organisation of the Nieuw Koffiekamp gold miners. Through gold
miners' organisationMakamboa, the NieuwKoffiekampminers now collectively nego-
tiate with the company. Makamboa counts about 50 machine owners and some 500
workers among its members. Among its main accomplishments is that the associates
may mine within the boundaries of the Rosebel Gold Mines concession, as long as
they comply with certain requirements. These requirements include the exclusion of
migrant miners and sex workers, and clearance of defined industrial zones where the
company is active.
In 2010, an agreement was signed between the Mediation Board/Ministry of
Natural Recourses, District Commissioner, Rosebel Gold Mines, a representative of
Police and Makamboa. This agreement does not explicitly mention the right of the
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