The Canadian mining company GoldQuest could resort to arbitration if it does not receive a response from the Government of the Dominican Republic to the request to carry out environmental impact studies of the Romero project , an underground gold and copper deposit it owns. The mining company has been pursuing the exploitation permit to carry out environmental impact studies for seven years.
The miner has been working on the Romero Project, 100% owned, since 2015, and according to the data provided on its website, a technical program has begun, including drilling.
The parties, GoldQuest and the Dominican Government, have held recent meetings, but according to Luis Santana, president of the mining company in the Dominican Republic, there have been neither positive nor negative results (see “ Minera would contemplate an arbitration process if it does not obtain a response on studies to Romero project ", Paola Wisky, Diario Libre, 01.15, 2015). And Santana alludes to the possibility that the mining company may have to choose to resort to legal means, litigation or arbitration.
According to the information provided by Santana, the mining company is working with the communities involved. The inhabitants of the San Juan region have been reluctant, for years, for this exploitation to be carried out due to the environmental damage in the area and its water resources (see “ Romero mining project in SJM on the way to collapse ”, Carlos Tejada, Digital Newspaper, 02.12.2018).
Last December, a group of priests from the diocese of San Juan de la Maguana demonstrated against the mining project, signing a manifesto in which they asked President Luis Abinader not to grant GoldQuest an exploitation permit due to the threat of destruction. and pollution in the area. The priests allude to the considerations of experts from the Academy of Sciences and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and ask not to seize the health of the people and the purity of their waters (see "Priestly Manifesto against the " Romero Project "in the Central Cordillera, Hondo Valle de SJM ", Diario Catlico, 12.19.2022).