President Hipólito Mejía created the Consejo Nacional para el Desarrollo Minero and the Unidad Corporativa Minera to reinforce Dominican efforts at developing a mining industry. and appointed himself the head of the new Council. Board members of the new Consejo Nacional para el Desarrollo Minero, a national council for mining development, will be the Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Minister of Environment, the legal consultant of the Executive Branch the nation’s coordinator for the Lomé IV program, the director of the Corporación de Fomento Industrial, the president of the Cámara Minera-Petrolera (Mining-Petroleum Chamber), president of the Dominican Society of Geology, general director of mines and the executive director of the newly created Unidad Corporativa Minera. The Unidad Corporativa Minera (corporate mining unit) is directly under the Executive Branch and is in charge of following up on companies in which the Dominican government participates as a shareholder, including the Rosario Dominicana gold mine. The new unit is specifically entrusted with seeking strategic partners for the development of the Ampliación Pueblo Viejo, Neita, Sabaneta, La Cuaba and Nandita projects of Rosario Dominicana. Members of the new unit’s board include the acting president of Rosario, the director of the local Department of Mines (Minería), the Governor of the Central Bank, the Minister of Finances, CEA director and Fomento Industrial director. The government appointed Miguel Antonio de Peña, as first executive director of the new Unit. Other leading officers are Ulises Martin Pérez and Edwin Rafael Garcia Cocco. The previous administration had hired Salomon Brothers to manage the tender for the Rosario gold mine. Several leading international mining countries moved to the DR to participate in the tender. This project was aborted months after the process had begun for undisclosed reasons.
