Give It A Rest ...
Here is a translation of Senator Bautista's comments, which appeared in "Listin Diario" yesterday :
"The senator of San Juan province, Felix Bautista, warned about the damage that would be caused to the territory by the exploitation of a gold mine located in the Romero section of the municipal district of Sabaneta.
Bautista said that since 2018 it has been spread that the Canadian company Gold Quest, through a mine, would be seeking to exploit the gold of that region.
Although he stressed that it could have an economic benefit in favor of the province and the Dominican State, the reality is that it could have harmful effects for more than 500,000 inhabitants, flora and fauna of the region.
"We are strongly opposed to the exploitation of the Romero Mine in the San Juan province, since its exploitation in that place would be highly detrimental to the San Juan Valley and to the Enriquillo Region," said the legislator.
Among his reasons for his opposition, he pointed out that the mining exploitation is located just upstream of the Sabaneta Dam, which is fed by surface water and groundwater.
In this sense, he indicated that if the exploitation of the Romero mine takes place, it would affect the water production, the ecosystem and the water of the dam would be contaminated, affecting the inhabitants of San Juan and other neighboring provinces.
"The contamination of water with cyanide, affects animal and plant life, that is to say, it affects the development process of plants, destroys the life of birds, fish and any animal species; it produces respiratory problems in humans, alters the nervous, arterial and digestive systems; it affects the development of pregnancy and contributes to premature births and other problems", said the legislator.
In view of this, the representative of San Juan asked the President of the Republic, Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, not to authorize the environmental impact study for the exploitation of the Romero mine."
Please jog the needle - 1) GoldQuest are NOT planning to use cyanide AT ALL and 2) only rainwater would be used during mining, not ground water or river water !!!