Photo by Tim Strater via Wikimedia. Retrieved from news.mongabay.com
Plans for a major mining project in western Suriname have sounded alarms in nearby Indigenous communities, who say that the project will destroy local ecosystems, violate their land rights and encroach on their traditional ways of life.
A bauxite mine run by Chinese corporation Chinalco could begin operating in 2026, with first construction work planned for the middle of this year. The scale of the project has worried activists, who say the government is prioritizing the economy over the rights of its citizens.
“There’s nothing wrong with looking to improve infrastructure. There’s nothing wrong with looking to bring jobs — that’s absolutely great,” John Goedschalk, head of Climate Change Advisory Services, a climate and conservation consulting group, told Mongabay. “But let’s do it right. Let’s do it in a way that doesn’t take away the rights of people to live where they live.”
If approved by parliament, the 30-year project will allow Chinalco to produce around 6 million tons of bauxite annually on a 280,000-hectare (691,895-acre) site. The mineral is used in the production of aluminum and has been a cornerstone of Suriname’s economy for decades.