The Dominican Republic is currently embroiled in several high-profile legal battles concerning environmental management and natural resource extraction. The legal battles are ongoing regarding environmental evaluations for mining operations in the Cordillera Septentrional and the Cordillera Central, the central and northern mountain ranges.
Senator Daniel Rivera of Santiago has emerged as a vocal opponent of mining permits in the Cordillera Central, arguing that the protection of the nation’s primary water sources must take precedence over economic gain. Rivera is a former Minister of Public Health.
However, the Abinader administration’s Ministry of Energy and Mines has defended the issuance of exploration permits, claiming the exploration permits do not authorize actual extraction and are necessary for the country to understand its mineral potential. Exploration permits are the previous step to exploitation permits.
So far, Roman Catholic and Evangelical spokespeople, local community and environmental groups have protested the new openness to mining ventures in these mountain areas that in past governments had not met with approval. The rural communities fear the depredation of their lands as has occurred in Monseñor Nouel and Sanchez Ramirez provinces where thousands have been displaced and more have to deal with the hidden cost to the environment and public health of the mining operations.
Sanchez Ramirez province, site of one of the largest gold-producing mines in the world, can hardly boast that progress has reached the population.
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El Nacional
Rumba
20 April 2026