Mining Concessions Sought for the Kaw Mountain Range
4/25/97
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FOREST PEOPLES PROGRAMME
URGENT ACTION
25 April 1997
MINING COMPANIES COVET AREA PROPOSED FOR A NATURE RESERVE IN FRENCH GUYANA
Guyanor, a subsidiary of Canadian company, Golden Star Resources (based in
Denver, USA) and US company ASARCO are seeking mining concessions to
prospect for gold and diamonds in the Kaw Mountain region of French Guiana.
French Guiana, located on the North-east coast of South America is almost
entirely covered by tropical rainforest. It is a French Overseas Department
(D.O.M.) and as such subject to French law. The area requested by the companies
has been proposed as a nature reserve; designated as a wetland area of high
ecological importance by the French Government under the International Ramsar
Wetland Protection Convention ; contains areas of
archaeological importance and a small part has been bought by the University of
Utrecht for the creation of a voluntary nature reserve.
The Mayors of local communities, Regina and Roura are demanding that the
nature Reserve proposal be regularised and that the entire Kaw Wetlands
watershed be protected. The Kaw wetland system, located south-east of the
capital, Cayenne, was listed by the French government as one of 17 wetland
areas deserving protection under the Ramsar Convention. The Ramsar
Convention, ratified by France in 1986, basically requires that listed
wetlands must be subjected to a protected area management plan and prohibits
activities that may change the ecological integrity of the wetland.
Additionally, the Kaw wetland system contains one of the few remaining, viable,
breeding populations of the endangered Black Caiman. The Black Caiman is
threatened with extinction and accordingly is listed as an Appendix 1 species
under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna.
French law prohibits mining in or near Nature Reserves. However, the
original Nature Reserve proposal has yet to be implemented and a second
proposal that excludes certain areas that will be used for mining is being
circulated. Asarco has already acquired two gold concessions in the area
in which it has dug numerous trenches that are 1200 metres long, one metre
wide and 4 metres deep : further trenching is planned. Also, Golden Star's
record on the environment does not inspire confidence. As one of the
partners in the OMAI gold mine in Guyana it was responsible for one of the
worst mining disasters in history. The OMAI mine burst a tailings dam on 19
August 1995, pouring up to 3 to 4 million cubic metres of cyanide and heavy
metal-laced effluent into the Essequibo river, prompting the Guyana
government to declare the area a national environmental disaster zone.
On the edge of the concessions requested by Golden Star lies a protected
archaeological site that contains a large, pre-Columbian petroglyph. If the
concessions are granted it is feared that this and other unknown sites may
be damaged. Fears are justified given Golden Star's prior record in French
Guiana with regard to complying with regulations relating to archaeological
sites. French law requires that archaeological sites discovered during
construction must be reported to the department of Archaeology and Culture
(DRAC) and all construction must cease until research can be done on the
site. The DRAC became suspicious of Golden Star's activities in 1994 after
no reports of archaeological sites were filed during road construction in an
area known to contain many probable sites. The DRAC even requested the
office of the Prefect, the highest civil servant in French Guiana, to write
to Golden Star to request information. He received no response at the
time, neither did he receive a response to two additional letters written in
1996.
The French Guyanese environmental organisation "le Pou d'Agouti" has written
a petition opposing mining in the Kaw mountain area. It reads : SAVE THE
JEWEL OF FRENCH GUIANA : YES TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, NO TO INDUSTRIAL
MINING IN THE MOUNTAINS AND IN THE WETLANDS OF KAW.
The mountains and wetlands of Kaw, an ecosystem of extraordinary natural
beauty and immense biodiversity close to Cayenne, the capital of French
Guiana, is threatened by the greed of mining companies. We, the undersigned,
demand that the French government and their elected representatives in
French Guiana recognise the basic incompatibility between activities that
can generate sustainable development (traditional activities such as fishing
and modern one like as eco-tourism) and destructive industrial mining. We
demand that the proposed Kaw Nature Reserve should include a large part of
the mountains and, as desired by the inhabitants of the village of Kaw,
should include all of the drainage basin of the Kaw wetlands. We demand that
the French Republic decree that the protection of nature in French Guiana is
a priority and that it cease to grant mining permits to foreign companies
with dubious and contestable reputations.
LE POU D'AGOUTI, B.P.194, 97393 St.-Laurent du Maroni CEDEX, GUYANE, France.
Tel : (+594) 34 20 97. Fax : (+594) 34 18 87. Email :
POU-AGOUTI@mdi-guyane.fr
Please join le Pou d'Agouti by writing or faxing Golden Star, Asarco and the
Department of Energy and Raw Materials at Paris. Please urge the companies
to respect the environment and the wishes of the affected communities by
withdrawing their applications for concessions in the Kaw mountain area. In
the case of ASARCO, request that they also withdraw from existing concessions.
Urge the French Government to respect international environmental law
(RAMSAR) ; to implement as soon as possible, with full participation of
local communities, the original plan for the Kaw Nature Reserve, including
protection for the entire Kaw Wetlands watershed.
Send faxes or letters to :
David Fagin, President
Golden Star Resources,
One Northwest centre
1700 Lincoln Street, Suite 1950
Denver, Colorado, 80203 USA
Tel. 1 303. 830. 9000 Fax. 1. 303. 830. 9022
Richard de J.Osborne
ASARCO Inc.
180 Maiden Lane,
New York, NY 10038 USA
Tel. 1. 212. 510. 1810 Fax : 1. 212. 510. 1855.
Monsieur MANDEL,
Direction GTnTrale d'Energie et des MatiIres PremiIres,
99 rue Grenelle
75007 PARIS
FRANCE
(affair followed by Madame Germain)
Tel : 33 43 19 30 90Fax : 33 43 19 30 90
For further information please contact le Pou d'Agouti at the above address
or the Forest Peoples Programme at the following address :
Forest Peoples Programme
1c, Fosseway Business Centre
Stratford Road
Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 9NQ
United Kingdom
Tel. 44. 1608. 652. 893. Fax. 44. 1608. 652. 878
Email : wrm@gn.apc.org