Small scale gold mining in Brazil and Suriname: the troubles of cultural rules, legal regulations and politics of access: In the ENV - Panel Artisanal and small scale mining in Latin America: challenges for reshaping extractive governance

Suriname and Brazil have very different politics in relation to small scale gold mining. Nevertheless, at the same time we observe a number of similarities in the gold mining practices of both Amazonian countries. In this paper we will identify a number of reasons contributing to the commonalities through a comparison focusing on notions of territoriality, marginality, and access to the gold. First, the mining usually takes place in remote parts of states, in the dense and often difficult to access marginal areas in the tropical rain forest. The physical and organizational distance from state control affects the mining activity. Second, the mobility of miners moves technologies and mining cultures over the region. Miners cross the borders easily and sometimes even unnoticed. Finally, although national politics towards small scale mining may be very different, the results for the miners may be quite similar. In the paper some explanations for this will be suggested. The rules for competition over access to the gold, are leading motive in both gold mining countries.