The awarding of a mining concession to the GoldQuest company to mine gold in the mountains in the San Juan de la Maguana province has certainly stirred much public opposition. Yesterday afternoon it was reported that Radhames Sanchez, a pilgrim who began a protest walk all the way to Santo Domingo as part of a local San Juan de la Maguana protest against the gold mine, had already reached the town of San Cristobal.
The principal criticism is the huge mining concession will affect water sources that irrigate the San Juan valley that is often called “The Granary of the South.”
According to Angelo Rafael Quezada, who belongs to the group known as “Defenders of the Valley,” Sanchez will reach Santo Domingo and deliver a letter to President Danilo Medina, asking him to reject the gold mine. Mining has a bleak reputation in the Dominican Republic, with farmlands in Monseñor Nouel province and Sánchez Ramírez province decimated by mining operations.
Another news report mentions that Catholic bishop José Dolores Grullón Estrella has spoken out against the mining project because of its alleged adverse effects for the agriculture in the valley. The bishop insists the province is farming territory and efforts should continue to utilize the farming and ecotouristic assets in the area, not mining. He doubted the exploitation of the Hondo Valle mine will contribute to human or economic sustainable development. He advocated closing the province to mining.
Energy and Mines Minister Antonio Isa Condé has stated “if the community of San Juan does not want the mine, then there should be no mine.” He was referring to the objections voiced by different sectors of San Juan de la Maguana regarding the possibility of exploiting the gold deposits in the area of GoldQuest Romero project. In a press release, Isa Condé said that “it is the policy of the government that any project of this nature should have the social acceptance in the area in which it is to develop.”
He also noted that the eventual approval by the Executive Branch does not imply that GoldQuest will be able to begin operations because this depends on the Ministry of Environment that must define the project as viable within an environmental framework. He said that he was confident that if the studies conducted by the Ministry of the Environment were to conclude that the mining project would affect the watersheds in the area, then the ministry would not grant the environmental license necessary for the exploitation of the gold mine.
Isa Conde, nevertheless, said that GoldQuest has assured that it will not touch or affect the surface or the existing forests, because the project calls for underground mining at more than 150 meters deep. Isa Conde said that the project developers argue the mining will not impact the San Juan River, because the internal recirculation of the water used in the process and the use of collected rain will only be from the project area, guaranteeing the quality of the basin’s water resources.
The underground mining exploitation area is 500 meters from the San Juan River. The José del Carmen Ramírez National Park to the East and the José Armando Bermúdez National Park to the northwest border the mining site.
The operation calls for exploiting a mine with estimated 840,000 ounces of gold, 980,000 ounces of silver and 135 lbs. of copper. The company says that the separation of the minerals would be carried out abroad.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
7 Dias
El Dia
Diario Libre
1 February 2018
