The Ministry of Energy and Mines and Barrick Pueblo Viejo (the gold-mining giant) signed an agreement on Wednesday, 15 June 2016 for the implementation of the State Environmental Administration Plan and for the repair of all areas that have suffered environmental damage as a result of previous operations by Rosario Dominicana. The agreement forms part of the stipulations established in the Special Agreement on the Leasing of Mining Rights that allows the company to operate the mine in the central province of Sanchez Ramirez (Cotui).
One of the priority objectives is to close the slag pond, which entails reinforcing the walls of the dam and extracting water to eliminate unwanted environmental risks, according to Minister Isa Conde who stressed that this process should have been started in 2009 but was delayed because of all of the studies and discussions that took place. The measures contained in the plan include cleaning up several streams, creeks and rivers as well as the Hatillo reservoir. The implementation involves a US$100 million investment, of which the mining company will contribute some US$75 million and the Dominican state the other US$25 million.
At the same time the government will be in charge of supervising the whole project.
As conceived, the environmental regeneration plan had a 10-year timeframe, half of which was a grace period.
Energy & Mines Minister Antonio Isa Conde and the president of Barrick Pueblo Viejo Manuel Rocha signed the agreement at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, at an event that was also attended by Environment Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez and INDRHI director Olgo Fernandez.
El Gobierno y Barrick inician plan de mitigación de la contaminación en Cotuí
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