The controversial decision of the Ministry of Energy & Mines to authorize the request for mining exploitation by Gold Quest in San Juan de la Maguana in the Cordillera Central mountain range is receiving support and criticism.
The Romero Project would be carried out in Hondo Valle, San Juan de la Maguana. The San Juan de la Maguana province is known as “the granary of the south” for its intense farm production. Ecologist Luis Carvajal, of the Academy of Sciences, says the concession is just a first of a series of others that have been requested for mining operations from Padre las Casas in Azua to the border with Haiti in the south, to Restauración, Elías Piña and all the way to the Monción Dam in the north. He said this would be “opening doors to disaster.”
Carvajal said this would be turning the San Juan farm valley into a mining district. He said the discussions need to focus on the land use for the area. He said his position is that the central mountain range area needs to be preserved for its primary role for the strategic security of the country that is to protect the supply of water. He highlighted the mine would be built next to the San Juan and La Guama rivers and above the Sabaneta Dam, major sources for farming irrigation and drinking water.
Carvajal says that the operation of the mine is not yet a given. He says all there is so far is the announcement on behalf of the Ministry of Energy & Mines to try to convince the population on the pluses and promises of a project that has not been discussed through the required channels.
Geologist Osiris de León defended the project on grounds that exploitation will be underground with no risk to the environment. He said it is a very different project than the open mining pits that have caused ecological devastation in Cotuí, Bonao and Cabo Rojo, Pedernales. De León explained that while the Ministry of Energy & Mines has given its green light, the Ministry of Environment has yet to grant the environmental license. The Ministry of Environment stated it has not yet received the required documentation for the environmental license. Likewise, the Presidency needs to authorize the exploitation.
On Monday, 22 January 2018, Minister of Energy & Mines Antonio Isa Conde defended the exploitation of the mine saying it would generate 40% of earnings in revenues for the state and another 5% for the San Juan de la Maguana area. The mine is estimated to have a seven-year life span and generate benefits for the Dominican state of US$561 million of which US$224 million would remain in the country. He said some 800 jobs would be created during the two-year construction period, and another 200 jobs during the operation of the mine. Isa Conde says GoldQuest has committed to not contaminate the waters of the San Juan and La Guama rivers or subterranean waters in the area.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
7 Dias
Diario Libre
24 January 2018
