Hundreds of employees of Falcondo apparently got the day off from their jobs yesterday, Thursday 3 October to protest outside the National Congress building in Santo Domingo. The employees defended the mining company’s track record in the Dominican Republic. Environmentalists, religious groups and La Vega community leaders have lobbied for the Ministry of Environment to reject Falcondo’s application for mining permits in the La Vega mountain of Loma Miranda. The company argues that modern extraction methods will be used. Environmentalists point to the major environmental damage already caused by the Falcondo mining in Bonao.
Earlier this week, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill aimed at creating the Loma Miranda National Park. The bill now moves to the Senate.
The Falcondo employees do not want the Senate to pass the bill after Falcondo said it would have to dismiss them if the permit were not granted. Francisco Placencia, manager of the Cooperativa Agropecuaria y Servicios Multiples de Bonao said that very few people who live in Bonao are thinking of the need to preserve the water, forests and wildlife and stop the environmental damage. He told El Dia that people were just thinking that their main source of income is going to be cut.
City municipality treasurer Bernardo Gomez said that they would lose access to the site where they dump the city waste. The mine is the biggest company in Bonao.
Environmental and health specialists have documented the widespread damage caused by Falconbridge in Monsenor Nouel (Bonao) province, the main reason for the opposition to the company mining in Loma Miranda.
The president of the Dominican Academy of Sciences says that in its impact study the company said the mining would be for six years, not 20 years as it is now saying. After six years the jobs would be lost anyway, but the damage to the water sources and environment would have a much higher cost.
Last year the government requested an independent opinion from a specialist United Nations team. At the end of the review, the then representative of the UN concluded that the Dominican Republic should seriously weigh the high cost of mining in the country.
Cibao Ecological Society (Soeci) president Andres Ramos said he expected the deputies’ decision to be confirmed by the Senate and made law by the President.
The company has said it could open in two or three years if the government authorizes the mining project.
www.lalupa.com.do/2012/10/loma-miranda-una-mina-de-niquel-para-falcondo-una-mina-de-agua-para-la-academia-de-ciencias/
www.pnud.org.do/sites/pnud.onu.org.do/files/EvaluacionTecnicaLM.pdf