But the situation in the forest areas is anything but
European. Since 15 years illegal gold seekers have
been flooding the rivers and forests. Men and material
are smuggled across the border from Brazil and
Suriname. Once in the country, their passports are
taken, and they are forced to work the mines under
hazardous conditions.

An area is deforested, with high pressure water pumps
the gravel is turned into a slurry, which is then
mixed with mercury, to bind with the gold. After the
gold is retrieved the remaining mud is poured into the
river or forest. 1,3kg of the toxic metal is used to
isolate 1kg of gold. The mercury accumulates in the
food chain, poisoning fish which are a staple diet of
the local Indians. A study found mercury level higher
then WHO standards in parts of the populace.
Apart from poisons the gold seekers bring diseases
with them, so is Malaria spread in areas not
previously affected. As illegals the goldseekers have
no access to healthcare.

Even thought the French government is aware of the
problem, it is hardly doing anything. And so the
precious forests, which regulate the weather, have
turned into a lawless zone. So was a research station
in the reserve Nourages robbed. The Association
UmanArt, which combined culture with environmental
protection, had to cease their activities due to gold
seekers who stole their boats, as explained in a
desperate declaration on their website.
 http://www.umanart.org/page_html/actualite.htm

In July 2004 the Regional Council of Guyane asked for
help from Paris, but it seems there only the rocket
launch pad is of worth.

But not only illegal gold seekers threaten man and
nature. The Canadian mining multinational Cambior
wants to build an industrial mining factory between
two nature reserves. 30 square kilometres shall be
covered, with 2 large open pits. 24 hours rock will be
transported, crushed and laced with cyanide to
retrieve the gold. 1995 a dam in cambior's Omai Mine
in Guyana broke, releasing 3 billion cubic litres of
cyanide waste into the river, killing all aquarian
life. In a similar accident in January 2000 about
100.000 cubic meter waste escaped into the Tisza and
Danube rivers. The spill was described by Hungarian
officials as the worst ecological disaster since the
leak from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power station in
1986. About 150 tonnes of fish died and the water will
be affected for long.

More information:
Campaign “No dirty gold”  http://nodirtygold.org/