Gold mining in French Guiana: A multi-criteria classification of mining projects for risk assessment at the territorial scale

Abstract

Mining is the source and target of various risks, that generally exceed the mine-site perimeter, and have impacts at larger scales. Consequently, mining risk analysis should be informed both by the structured characterization of mining projects and by a holistic understanding of the system where mining projects are located and interact. This is rarely the case in practice. In French Guiana (FG) gold exploitation plays a critical role within territory dynamics, and this activity takes a great variety of forms. However, no structured description of mining projects is available in scientific literature regarding FG. This paper proposes a multi-criteria classification of gold mining projects in FG with the objective to develop standardized gold mining project types for risk assessment at the territory level. First, the different types of mining projects are briefly presented and their specifities described. Then, a classification is proposed, based on the data obtained from different sources and validated by local experts. Finally, for each project type, an overview of the main potential impacts at the territory level is presented. This is a first step for the development of a systematic methodology for mining risk assessment in FG. It may be extended to other countries and commodities.