Falcondo Xstrata Nickel executives say that the mining company will be contributing to the protection of the Jaguey River basin and the biodiversity in the Loma Miranda mountain, and will only mine 23% of the area, as reported in Hoy. Company environmental adviser Fernando Cabrera and its mining director Edwin Deveaux say that infrastructure would be built on 11% of the area and the mining operation would be one kilometer away from the Jaguey River.
Deveaux says that Falcondo has permission valid for 75 years from the Department of Mines for extraction works and is the owner of the land where the proposed mining would take place. It is only waiting for the Ministry of Environment to issue the corresponding permit.
The Catholic Church, community groups and the Academy of Sciences are leading a campaign to create a protected area in order to ban mining in Loma Miranda. Environmentalists point to the environmental devastation in the nearby Bonao area caused by Falconbridge’s nickel mining operations.