Environmental Concerns slow things GLTA!https://eldia.com.do/inquietudes-medio-ambientales-frenan-desarrollo-mineria-en-rd/
To ensure a successful mine closure, projects must make a deposit into a peripheral account for remediation.
Santo Domingo.- Although metal mining companies with exploitation permits are taking advantage of mineral resources and leaving income for the country, this type of mining has stagnated.
Both the expansion projects and the opening of new companies, which remain unapproved.
Such is the case of the construction of the tailings dam by the Barrick Gold company, the Romero project in San Juan de la Maguana by the Gold Quest company and the Unigold company in Dajabn.
In the case of the mining company Barrick Gold, a project is currently underway to extend the useful life of the Pueblo Viejo mine until the year 2044, for which only the corresponding permits are awaited by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) to the aforementioned mine.
This will make it possible to increase the levels of extraction, as well as the volume of production and export, which in turn would translate into higher foreign exchange earnings and tax collections, the Central Bank highlighted in a report on the economy at the end of the year.
However, the completion of the tail dam has been a stumbling block, due to the fact that various social movements have risen up against its construction, in the place that had been identified, in the Cuance community, Monte Plata.
On this matter, the Directorate of Mines said that the State is accompanying and monitoring the company that carries out a study of the geomorphology of the area, and in a period of 18 months the results will be obtained as to whether the soil is feasible for that kind of construction.
He stressed that the Dominican State will guarantee that the area where this infrastructure is carried out is safe.
Other initiatives
Other projects that are awaiting approval is the 'Romero' in San Juan de la Maguana, which is waiting for permits to carry out environmental studies as required by law.
The same happens with the Unigold project, companies that have been conducting exploration studies for 10 years and are waiting for approval to exploit the gold deposits of the Neta concession, located in the Restauracin municipality, Dajabn province.
In this regard, the president of the Board of the Commonwealth, Fernando Gonzlez Nicols, pointed out that mining in recent years has become one of the main columns that sustain the Dominican economy.
He recalled that during the pandemic, mining was the mainstay of the Dominican economy and allowed the country's recognized recovery to be accelerated worldwide.
Gonzlez Nicols urged the Dominican State to pay more attention and support to the mining sector, which in his opinion will contribute to facing economic challenges.
He added that in the last 10 years the proliferation of a media campaign against the mining company has been allowed.
This campaign based on falsehoods has not been effectively denied and has become a form of discredit that has generated a harmful distancing of the political class from the mining sector.
An example of this distancing is that in the last 10 years no Dominican head of state has visited a mining company under normal circumstances to find out how they operate," said the businessman.
demand attention
The president of the Table of the Commonwealth Countries highlighted the success that President Abinader has achieved in attracting foreign investment to the tourism, free zone, industry and agriculture sectors.
He urged to begin to change the negative attitude towards mining.
That all of us, the Government, the companies and the communities, base ourselves more on statistics, facts, science and laws," he said, when proposing to the State to guarantee the communities, that in the country it is done and Responsible mining will be carried out, since it is the supervisor of the mining industry, which complies with the established laws and that the mining and environmental laws tend to protect water, agriculture and Dominican fauna.
If studies are feasible
— Contributions
The Romero project has around three million ounces of gold and the deposit is open. The day that this resource from the Romero mine is used, San Juan must become the development engine of the southern region of the country.
That is if the results of social, environmental and economic research are favourable. These resources should be focused on the development of the province of San Juan and Elas Pia.
In such a way that they serve to dynamize the greatest potential that is agriculture, that the technification and industrialization of products such as beans, pigeon peas and garlic are achieved.
Preliminary analyzes indicate that the province of San Juan receives around five billion pesos every year, for the five percent tax that corresponds to the community and an additional 8% that they intend to contribute.
Dilenni Bonilla