A planned industrial gold mine within France’s overseas territory of French Guiana could see inward investment of EUR782 million and lead to the creation of several thousand jobs. However, concerns over the mine’s environmental impact could see protests sparked if the project is approved later this year.

Gold mining has been carried out in French Guiana for over 150 years, primarily by small enterprises. The territory remains rich in gold reserves, as evidenced by the significant number (609 in 2017) of illegal gold mines in the territory, operated primarily by Brazilian informal miners known as ‘Garimpeiros’. To date the industrial mining of gold has not occurred, with the last attempt by IAMGOLD to establish a gold mine at Kaw having been rejected by France in early 2008.

In March 2018, France’s National Public Debate Commission (Commission Nationale du Débat Public: CNDP) is to commence a four-month public consultation in French Guiana, to ascertain whether there is now public support for a new industrial gold mine. The Montagne d’Or – a joint venture between Canada’s Colombus Gold and Russian-backed Nordgold – is a planned gold mine located within the Paul Isnard project some 120km south of Saint-Laurent du Maroni. The mine site is located within an area approved for mining activity by the local mining regulator (Schéma Départemental d’Orientation Minière: SDOM) ‘under conditions’. According to Colombus Gold, the mine has proven and probable gold reserves of 2.75 million oz (54.11 million tonnes @1.58 g/t gold). This would make it by far the largest mining operation to date in French Guiana and also the largest ever to be located on French soil. If approved, production at Montagne d’Or would commence in 2022, with an estimated mine life of 12 years.

Proponents of the mine have cited the much-needed boost that it would provide to the local economy, which is suffering from high unemployment and a large budget deficit (EUR29.8 million in 2015), which has to be subsidised by Paris. There will be 750 workers employed at the mine, with a further 3,000 indirect jobs to be created, according to the mine operator, significant numbers in a territory where unemployment was running at 23% in 2016. French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his backing for the project, alongside the local Territorial Council and France’s Employers Federation (MEDEF). 

That said, the proposed mine size and mining method put forward by the joint venture company Compagnie Minière de la Montagne d’or (CMM) are both proving highly controversial with local environmental activist groups, the most prominent of which is Or de Question. This collective claims to be supported by over 20 local organisations, plus a further 120 national and international non-govermental organisation (NGOs). At one point located only 440 metres from an area of protected Amazonian rainforest, the mine will necessitate the dynamiting and digging of a 2.5km long, 500 metre wide and 400 metre deep open pit, with the wider mine site covering a total of 8km².

Of particular concern to Or de Question is the fact that CMM will use cyanide in the processing of the gold, leading to the consequent storage of decyanidated waste in a tailings dam. According to Or de Question, the mine will produce 400 million cubic metres of waste during the course of its operational life, waste that could be ‘leached by strong tropical rains’ and which could subsequently lead to the pollution of water courses by heavy metals over ‘hundreds of years’. In this context, Or de Question has cited the 25 accidental failures of dams at global mining sites since 2000, and the pollution of water courses in recent years by mining activity in Brazil, Surinam and Guyana, as reasons to cancel this project on environmental protection grounds. Or de Question has also highlighted that the gold production plant will consume as much energy per year as the capital Cayenne.