Bauxite Mining in Moengo: Remnants of the Past and Signs of Modernity

Abstract

Major bauxite deposits were discovered in Suriname in the first decades of the twentieth century.¹ The exploitation and processing of bauxite transformed the chiefly agrarian economy into a mining economy. Suriname received a boost from the fact that World War I disrupted the supply of bauxite from Europe, while demand for military purposes rose sharply. American companies searched for alternative suppliers. In 1920, a subsidiary of the largest aluminum producer in the world, Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America), started mining in Moengo, an isolated Maroon village in the district of Marowijne in the eastern part of the colony. There the size, quality, and location of the deposits were most promising. This Surinaamse Bauxiet Maatschappij (Surinamese Bauxite Company, SBM), founded in 1916, and the exploitation of bauxite would have a towering role in the development of Suriname, especially since the start of World War II.²