The widespread protests against the authorization of a major gold mining operation along a 50-km mining transect (70% gold, 30% copper) in the farming province of San Juan de la Maguana continues. GoldQuest has announced its intent in going forward with the construction of the US$150 million mining installation.
The president of the Fundación para el Progreso del Sur (Funprosur), Alexander Valenzuela, called for the community to forcefully say “no” to the operation that he said puts at risk ground and surface waters that are essential for farming and overall quality of life for residents in the province. Valenzuela spoke out against the Ministry of Energy & Mines that gave the go-ahead to the Romero project for an underground gold mining in the province. Still pending, however, is the Ministry of Environment’s environmental licenses and permits to begin the mining operation.
Valenzuela said the mine will make a few people rich but would subject most of the population to countless long-term risks. He said the wealth of San Juan de la Maguana is in farming and not in mining. He warned that the next in line is the proposal for the exploitation of a second Romero project in Hondo Valle, in the adjacent province of Elías Piña.
Valenzuela said that the San Juan River is located less than 200 meters from the location of the Romero mining project in San Juan. He said the river is a tributary of the Yaque del Sur River, and in the same area as the Sabaneta Dam and the central mountain range.
A video is circulating on social media stressing the importance of the rivers to farming in six provinces in the southwestern provinces. Director of Mines Alexander Medina has said that the GoldQuest operation would not use rainwater and not affect the area river waters.
He said that it is common knowledge that mines can alter the water flow in the aquifer, creating of changes in the hydrology. In addition, Valenzuela said “the drainage of mines (pumping) can cause a considerable decrease in the water table, which, in addition to other effects, can seriously degrade the vegetation in the affected area”.
Valenzuela said he hopes the Ministry of Environment, under Minister Francisco Domínguez Brito, will not give its go ahead to this project, as a result of conducting a thorough and unbiased environmental assessment.
Valenzuela called on the leadership of the province to reject opening the area to mining.
He announced the organizing of mobilizations against the mine in San Juan de la Maguana.
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30 January 2018
