Peling Bergi shows how great the gap is between administrative attention and actual solutions. While mining activities affect the habitat of local communities, concrete answers on permits, oversight, remediation and responsibility remain absent.
We will look into it. We will ask questions. We will express our indignation. There will be a letter, a visit, a committee or a new consultation. Then it goes quiet.
For the people living in the interior, the consequences remain. A damaged access road. An excavated area. Uncertainty about water quality. And having to explain time and again that the forest, in which others mainly see raw materials, is their habitat.
Peling Bergi shows how great the gap is between administrative attention and an actual solution.
Uncertainty over mining activities
TFD was on site and saw the extensive mining activities: excavators, excavations, transport of materials and processing sites. These were not small-scale operations carried out somewhere unnoticed with a shovel.
Yet there was uncertainty about who exactly was working there, what rights and permits had been granted for this and who was supervising the activities.
On September 19, DNA members Rabin Parmessar and Michael Marengo also visited the area. We were present that day as well.
On September 25, the parliamentarians asked the president for a temporary suspension of the work and an independent investigation.
Zijin contacted TFD and also stated that it had alerted the government to the activities as far back as January 2020. According to the company, it held exploration rights in the area, did not itself carry out the gold mining in question and had not given permission for it either.
Warnings have been issued since 2020, and in 2026 we are still asking who is operating there and on the basis of which permits or rights. This requires accountability from the authorities that received these reports.
Inspections without clear outcomes
A subsequent inspection was reported. On October 1, the Commissie Ordening Goudsector (Gold Sector Regulation Commission) visited Peling Bergi.
The entrepreneur present stated that work had already been halted for several days. He was informed of the applicable rules.
But a visit and a warning do not yet give society clarity on which permits were checked, what was established and what decisions followed.
And that is precisely the problem: we hear about government activities, but receive insufficient clarity about the results.
Villagers must force attention
The villagers, too, have had to force attention. They blocked a road because, according to them, two old access roads had been destroyed.
Areas they previously visited, including for hunting, had consequently become inaccessible. TFD was present to document their complaints.
The districtscommissaris of Brokopondo, Gregory van der Kamp, asked the residents to remove the barricade. The district administration would investigate the situation and meet with those involved. If it appeared that the roads had been deliberately destroyed, he would ensure their restoration.
According to Daniël Bueno de Mesquita, however, the roads have still not been restored, feedback is lacking and the promised krutu (community meeting) has not taken place.
Without information, the villagers do not know whether the damage has actually been investigated and whether deliberate destruction has been established.
TFD tried to obtain a response from the districtscommissaris, but no response had been received by the time of publication.
Villagers are asked to have confidence in consultation. Then that consultation must actually take place.
The administration must make clear what has been investigated, what the outcomes are and what measures will be taken.
Otherwise, an administrative commitment becomes no more than a form of deception.
Habitats are under pressure
This is part of a much larger problem.
Indigenous and tribal communities repeatedly have to call for attention to the protection of their living environment, while others carry out economic activities there.
Research by Utrecht University, for example, describes how people from outside Maroon communities mine gold in their habitats without permission from the traditional authority, sometimes even on sacred land.
For those who live there, losing access to the forest is not a minor inconvenience.
It affects their food supply, income, culture and independence. Whoever destroys a road or makes an area inaccessible changes the lives of others.
That deserves greater administrative urgency than another discussion without a clear outcome.
Brownsberg demonstrates the vulnerability of protected areas
The situation at Brownsberg also shows that even protected nature reserve status does not automatically provide protection.
On August 11, 2026, the Commissie Ordening Kleinschalige Goudsector (Small-Scale Gold Sector Regulation Commission) took mining equipment into custody at the Irenevallen and ordered illegal gold miners to leave the area.
That is concrete action.
But protection must also hold after such action. The result must be that illegal mining does not resume and further damage is prevented.
Fifteen years of regulation, but where are the results?
Suriname has been discussing the regulation of the gold sector since 2011.
Fifteen years later, registration, oversight and combating illegal activities remain recurring tasks.
Despite efforts in the area of Ordening Goudsector (OGS), illegal mining activities and the use of mercury remain serious problems.
That does not mean that nothing has been done in all those years. It does mean that the population is entitled to a critical assessment of what all those efforts have actually delivered.
How many sites have been inspected? How many violations have been stopped? Which areas have been restored? And where is it checked whether imposed measures are actually being complied with?
On October 7, policy and management teams were again installed to transform the artisanal gold sector and prepare for the establishment of a national gold authority.
That preparation must not become another waiting room for problems already occurring today.
A new organisation does not relieve existing authorities of their responsibility.
Permits and company records must be checked
Of course, an investigation can take time. Water and soil samples must be carefully examined. It must also be prevented that suspicions are presented as proven facts.
But basic checks should not become an endless search.
Who is carrying out the work? On behalf of which company? At which location? With what permission and under what conditions?
Registration with the Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken (KKF) answers only some of those questions.
The provided extract for Manzanglon Gold N.V., for example, lists a director and the company’s objectives. However, this does not yet demonstrate a mining right at a specific location.
This is precisely why the competent authorities must compare company records, concessions, permits and the actual activities.
It must also be established which substances are being used and how wastewater and residual materials are handled.
An investigation into the possible use of chemicals at Peling Bergi must provide clarity. Suspicions alone are insufficient.
But uncertainty must likewise not persist for years because inspections are not completed or the outcomes are not made public.
Where there are violations, action must be taken
Where violations are established, measures must follow.
Where activities take place without the required permission, the competent authority must intervene.
Where a suspension is necessary to prevent further damage, that decision must be made and enforced.
And where damage has been caused, restoration must be enforced.
That is what administrators and supervisors have been appointed for.
The government must provide direction and take responsibility. The district administration must honour agreements and inform villagers. Supervisors must complete their investigations and act where necessary.
DNA members, too, must continue to monitor what the government does with their findings and recommendations after their field visits and written requests.
Indignation on location has little value if no one subsequently demands concrete answers.
Peling Bergi must not become a forgotten file
In the meantime, the damage may become irreversible.
An excavated mountain does not wait for a meeting. A community does not regain its familiar living environment through the installation of a new committee.
Peling Bergi must therefore not end up as the next issue about which everyone expressed concern for a short time.
There must be verifiable decisions.
What has been established? Which activities may continue and which must be stopped? Who will restore the damaged roads? And when will the villagers receive clarity?
The longer those answers remain absent, the more ground the people who live there lose.
And the greater the damage Suriname will later have to repair.
