Paranam is a town in the

Para District Para is a district of northern Suriname. Para's capital city is Onverwacht, with other towns including Paranam, and Zanderij. Para has a population of 24,700 and an area of 5,393 km2. The district is the mining and forestry centre of Sur ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. Paranam was created in 1938 for a bauxite factory. In 1965, an

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

was added. The factories closed down in 2017.

History

There used to be a little hamlet called ''Klein Curaçao'' at the location. Paranam was created in 1938 when

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

began building a plant to support new mining areas along the Suriname River. Built on a former plantation, the facility was called Paranam after the Para and

Suriname River The Suriname River ( Dutch: ''Surinamerivier'') is long and flows through the country of Suriname. Its sources are located in the Guiana Highlands on the border between the Wilhelmina Mountains and the Eilerts de Haan Mountains (where it is kn ...

s which border the mining concession areas. The Paranam mine began operations in 1941. Alcoa operates worldwide through a joint ventures, and the operation in Suriname is called The Suriname Aluminum Company (or Suralco). A market and theatre were built in town, however most workers remained in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

. In 1965, an

was opened in Paranam which operated on the electricity generated by the Afobaka Dam. The smelter converts

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

to produce approximately 3,150 metric tons of alumina each day at this location. Paranam became the first location in the world with an integrated system where the earth was transformed into aluminium. In 2015, Alcoa announced that it was going to close the factories, because the local supplies were exhausted, and the factories could not handle the bauxite from the

Bakhuis Mountains The Bakhuis Mountains () are a mountain range in central Suriname, spanning 110 kilometres. The mountain range form of the northern part of the Wilhelmina Mountains, and the mountains and its village were named after the Netherlands, Dutch explor ...

. The factories closed down in 2017.

Harbour

Due to the deep water available on the Suriname River, Paranam is a port accessible to oceangoing ships. A pilot is required.

Notable people

* Hélène Ramjiawan (1952–2021), children's book author

References

{{Surinamese District Para Populated places in Para District Bauxite mining in Suriname 1938 establishments in Suriname Populated places established in 1938