Both sides of the Atlantic are rich in gold: With today’s knowledge, the fracture line along which the African and South American continents split apart 150 million years ago can be easily recognized on the globe. The coastlines of the continents fit together like puzzle pieces. When pushed together, present-day Ghana borders its geological twin Guyana. Both regions owe their great wealth of gold to their common origin in the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. On both sides, particularly old “greenstone” is found, only the designations differ: In Ghana and Mali, it’s called the Ashanti Gold Belt, while from Guyana to Brazil, it extends as the Guiana Gold Shield.

There are important differences with significant consequences. African countries like Ghana or Mali are much more densely populated than their South American counterparts. Ghana has 35 million inhabitants. British Guyana, although only slightly smaller, counts only about 836,000 residents. The southern neighboring Suriname, until 1975 known as “Dutch Guiana”, half the size of Germany, has just over 600,000 inhabitants. This difference in population density and infrastructure is indirectly reflected in the gold production of these countries. Ghana currently produces about 4 million ounces of gold per year. British Guyana is at around 400,000 ounces per year, and Suriname reaches an estimated annual production of 635,000 ounces, not including significant local mining. Insiders estimate that about 1 ton of gold is exported monthly from Suriname alone from local sources. Compared to Ghana, countries like Guyana or Suriname are significantly less explored. This is precisely what makes the Guiana Shield one of the top addresses for gold explorers worldwide today.

Stock Market Rewards Recent Exploration Successes in Guyana and Suriname

Given the knowledge of geological kinship, it’s not surprising that the same gold companies are at work on both sides of the Atlantic. The Chinese conglomerate Zijin Mining operates in Ghana as well as in Guyana and Suriname. Newmont is present in Ghana and Suriname but absent in Guyana. Wherever the large gold producers have positioned themselves, opportunities arise for smaller exploration companies that take on the outsourced research & development for future projects for the established producers. How well this model works can currently be observed in two examples. Since mid-2024, G2 Goldfields (TSX: GTWO) in Guyana (current market value 730 million CAD) has been writing a stormy success story. The counterpart in Suriname is the success story of Founders Metals (TSXV: FDR), whose market value has increased to >400 million CAD since mid-2024. With the current gold price of 3,300 USD per ounce, the market is rewarding exploration success. It’s no exaggeration to speak of a new gold rush in the Guiana Shield. Particularly in Suriname, a cluster for promising discoveries is currently forming with Founders Metals, Miata Metals (CSE: MMET), Greenheart (private), and Sranan Gold (CSE: SRAN; FRA: P84) in a small area.

Figure 1: The projects of Founders Metals, Miata Metals, and Sranan Gold are located within a radius of less than 100 km from each other.

Gold Rush on the Guiana Shield at 3,300 USD Gold

For all those who missed the run on G2 Goldfields or Founders Metals (but especially for those sitting on their profits), we want to introduce a company that is newly starting in Suriname today: Sranan Gold (CSE: SRAN; FRA: P84). Sranan offers the chance for a multi-million ounce discovery on the Guiana Shield. While the company and corporate structure are new, the individuals behind the company are well-known. The main investor in Sranan Gold is the Metals Group with John Williamson at the helm – just like in the founding of Founders Metals. The Chief Geologist Dr. Dennis La Point, COO of Sranan, has been involved in all exploration programs in the country since 1999. He was also previously with Founders Metals. However, Dennis’ particular pride is the discovery of the Merian Gold Mine in Suriname, where Newmont currently produces 300,000 ounces per year. Sranan’s VP Exploration Rayiez Bhoelan is himself from Suriname. He too worked as a Senior Consulting Geologist for Founders. Even the head of the drilling crew, Kelly Johnston, has worked for Founders and supervised the first 20,000 meters there. Last but not least, the CEO Oscar Louzada should be mentioned. Oscar is Dutch by birth and originally comes from the finance industry. He has been active in Suriname for 12 years and has developed two projects there (Sela Kriki and Nassau), which are now owned by Miata Metals. Miata currently has a market value of 76 million CAD. The company name “Sranan Gold” is chosen programmatically: “Sranantongo” is the Creole language spoken in Suriname. Through its name, Sranan Gold wants to emphasize its strong local roots, but also indicate that its exploration interest ultimately extends to the entire country. The official language in Suriname, by the way, is Dutch, but it helps enormously when the team can communicate with the local population in their own language.

Figure 2: Three charts comparing Founders Metals (445 million CAD), Miata Metals (76 million CAD), and Sranan Gold (16 million CAD). All three companies are active in Suriname. The price development and valuation show how much the stock market rewards drilling successes in the Guiana Shield.

Figure 3: Sranan Gold’s project is located directly on the Tapanahony River, which serves as the main transportation artery for supplying the camp. Heavy equipment needs only eight hours via the waterway. An airfield is only 15 minutes away.

An Introduction to the Tapanahony Project

The Tapanahony project in Suriname has excellent potential to develop into a gold deposit with several million ounces. The 29,000-hectare Tapanahony project encompasses one of the oldest and largest artisanal mining areas in Suriname. Active mining by locals has helped identify exploration targets. Through recent Lidar surveys, the Sranan Gold team has been able to show that three parallel trends exist, extending over several kilometers. Local miners have only worked on small sections of the 4.5-kilometer-long middle trend (Poeketi-Randy pit trends), but have already carried out significant gold production in the weathered near-surface saprolite!

However, this artisanal open-pit mining usually ends at a maximum depth of 20 to 30 meters. To systematically unlock the potential of the deposit, modern exploration and mining technology are needed. As early as 2011-2012, Iamgold identified gold mineralization over a strike length of more than 600 meters along the Poeketi-Randy pit trend with about 4,000 meters of drilling. This area will be a focus of Sranan Gold’s planned drilling. Sranan expects the arrival of two of its own drill rigs by the end of May this year. The encouraging findings from the geophysical surveys have prompted Sranan Gold to expand its planned drilling program from an original 1,500 to up to 10,000m. Now all three trends are to be tested by drilling. More drill meters not only improve the chance of discovery but also reduce the risk for investors. In this respect, the expansion of the drilling program is welcome. As Sranan’s existing cash reserves amount to approximately 1.6 million CAD, it is likely that the company will soon raise fresh money again, presumably in the range of the current market price.

Figure 4: Lidar has proven to be a powerful exploration tool that allows structures to be identified independently of tropical vegetation. Instead of one gold trend (the red dots represent artisanal mining), the Sranan team has already discovered three parallel trends in a very short time. Sranan’s Chief Geologist Dennis LaPoint considers the technology a game changer for future exploration throughout Suriname.

Figure 5: The famous Lassonde Curve shows the typical cycles of an exploration company. Sranan Gold is in the Pre-Discovery Phase.

Conclusion: Among the exploration companies represented in Suriname, Sranan Gold is the youngest but probably also the one that is best anchored locally. The experienced team is largely identical to the team that was at the beginning of Founders Metals’ success. However, Sranan also has the right shareholders, first and foremost the Metals Group with John Williamson at the helm. The Metals Group combines a high degree of geological expertise with access to capital. In addition, there is a high-potential project that has been a center for small-scale mining for years and was already explored by Iamgold through drilling in the 2010s. At that time, Iamgold had already identified a 600-meter-long mineralized corridor along the Poeketi-Randy gold trend. Recent investigations using Lidar technology have now shown that this section probably represents only a fraction of the project’s true potential. Neither Iamgold nor the local population knew that in the immediate vicinity of the known Poeketi Trend, two additional parallel gold trends exist, extending over several kilometers. As early as the end of May, Sranan expects the delivery of two drilling rigs, which the company has purchased specifically for the purpose of permanently low drilling costs. The planned 10,000 meters of drilling should quickly provide newsflow, as the samples can be evaluated in a local laboratory within a day. In our view, Sranan Gold has everything necessary to repeat the success of Founders Metals. We will definitely stay on top of this story.