Thousands of unlawful gold prospectors are nonetheless lively in Guyana, inspired by the rise in costs and the inaction of neighboring Suriname | EUROtoday

At first look, Guyana’s dense equatorial forest appears impenetrable. However, 8,000 unlawful gold prospectors work there day by day. These new convicts, unfold throughout 591 websites, extracted 6 tonnes of gold in 2025, in keeping with a report from the prefecture printed Thursday December 4. For forty years, the Guyanese have suffered this gold rush, significantly the indigenous populations of the inside communes, confronted with the destruction of the forest and the air pollution of the rivers.

On common, 150 hectares are deforested annually and 100 kilometers of waterways destroyed – any decontamination being made not possible. Since 2003, greater than 3,600 kilometers of rivers have been worn out in Guyana, or seven occasions the Garonne, in keeping with a report from the Sustainable Development Commission of the National Assembly, printed in November. Discharges of mercury, a liquid metallic utilized by unlawful gold miners to agglomerate gold flakes into nuggets, and sludge linked to mining destroy aquatic fauna and flora. They additionally represent a public well being drawback by contaminating the meals chain.

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