Port Kaituma is one of several gold-mining communities that has had to adjust to the vicissitudes of the gold-mining industry, not least the instability in gold prices and the attendant fluctuation of the fortunes of gold miners on the one hand, and the strengthening of environmental, safety and health and other regulations that compel a higher level of operational compliance on the other.
In areas that include communities like Big Creek, Five Star, Eye Lash, Monasi, Baramita, Fourteen Miles, Tiger Creek and Arakaka, the smaller miners are feeling the heat. Similar small gold-mining operations run by intrepid seekers from neighbouring Brazil and Venezuela are beginning to fold. The larger, more stable mining operations persist on the
