On Monday, 12 February 2018, the former president of the Chamber of Deputies, sister of President Danilo Medina and deputy for the southwestern province of San Juan de la Maguana, Lucia Medina, issued a press release that established her opposition to the mining of the Romero gold deposit in the province.
The Ministry of Mines has issued dozens of exploration permissions in the area, but the Romero gold deposit recently received the green light from the Ministry of Mines to request a mining permit from the Ministry of Environment. The Ministry of Mines has said the operation would generate US$224 million in tax revenues for the state over its estimated seven year period. Director of Mines, Alexander Medina explained this would be an underground operation that would use rainwater and that the promoters say it will not affect river water resources in the province.
Deputy Lucia Medina spoke up saying the mine endangers farming in her native province. She said 80% of the beans produced in the country come from San Juan de la Maguana and these would suffer from mining operations. “I join the organizations of the province and the population in general that oppose the exploitation of the mine. The mining permit need not be granted for the peace and tranquility in our province. The mining operation would give a false sense of well-being, but most likely produce a long term tragedy for the region – reducing water sources and contamination rivers and streams,” she said.
She added: “I call for reflecting that those US$224 million that the state would receive [for the seven year operation], as explained by the mining company and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, is the same that San Juan farms produce in five years. If San Juan does not want mining, then there will not be mining”, she said in a press release.
Medina said that the San Juan and Guazuma rivers are the water source for the Sabaneta Dam and the main aqueduct of the municipality of San Juan de la Maguana.
She stated that the exploitation of the Romero project by GoldQuest in the community of Hondo Valle, in the northern part of the Sabaneta Dam would damage the flora and fauna of the region, and above all would threaten the survival of a people whose main asset is farming that depends on the river water.”
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El Caribe
13 February 2018
