{"id":251203,"date":"2026-05-11T07:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=251203"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:42:15","slug":"luis-carvajal-says-san-juan-gold-mining-violates-even-the-pro-mining-old-146-71-law-and-addresses-major-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/05\/11\/luis-carvajal-says-san-juan-gold-mining-violates-even-the-pro-mining-old-146-71-law-and-addresses-major-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Carvajal says San Juan gold mining violates even the pro-mining old 146-71 law and addresses major risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Luis Carvajal \/ Esta Misma Semana<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a short interview with Huchi Lora and Diana Lora for Esta Misma Semana, environmentalist and member of the Academy of Sciences, Luis Carvajal, detailed the severe ecological and legal risks posed by the GoldQuest “Romero” gold project in San Juan de la Maguana. While President Luis Abinader recently announced the immediate suspension of the project following intense community protests, Carvajal warns that the threat remains systemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed mining site is located in the upper basin of the San Juan River, the lifeblood of the entire region. It would impact the San Juan River, the only source of water for the Valley of San Juan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The river has a reservoir at the Sabaneta Dam, which provides the water necessary for all human consumption, municipal aqueducts, and the vast agricultural production of the valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carvajal said in case of an eventuality there is no alternative water source between the Sabaneta Dam and the city of San Juan de la Maguana, located 35 km from the deposit site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any contamination at the source would leave the entire municipality and its thousands of small-scale farmers without usable water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creation of a “Mining District”
Carvajal emphasizes that while the public is being told it will be a limited eight-year extraction operation, the corporate scope is much larger. Although the immediate project is framed as local, GoldQuest holds concessions covering nearly 23,000 hectares (over 50 m2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that authorizing the first company would effectively convert the region into a permanent Mining District. This would fundamentally change the land use of the territory, prioritizing mining over the historical and vital agricultural identity of San Juan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mining law gives those obtaining exploitation permits the mineral extraction priority over other land uses for 75 years, which would legally displace thousands of small agricultural producers and violate their established land rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High-risk nature and environmental impacts
The technical nature of the deposit, a copper sulfide deposit, poses specific, irreversible dangers. Carvajal mentions a threat of acid mine drainage as the most significant threat. He explained that mining these minerals can create acidic runoff that leaches heavy metals into the water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subterranean contamination
Because it is an underground mine, if the aquifer is contaminated, there is no physical way to contain or “clean” the flow. These toxic metals then become bioavailable, entering the food chain and human water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “eternal” liability
Carvajal notes that the most expensive part of mining is the closure process. Using the Barrick Gold contract as a precedent, he warns that while the company takes the short-term profits, the Dominican State is often left with the perpetual financial and environmental burden of managing the site long after the mine is exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal and regulatory violations
The project stands in direct conflict with existing Dominican legal frameworks in Law 146-71 (Mining Law). He described the old law dating back to 1971 as pro-mining and says that even this law explicitly states that mining cannot occur in areas where irrigation canals exist. He highlights the Sabaneta Dam is the primary source for all regional irrigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carvajal stresses that the exploitation would violate the constitutional right of the population to water. The exploitation site sits directly atop the region’s primary water production zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow the story:
Esta Misma Semana <\/a>
Ministry of Energy and Mines <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 May 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a short interview with Huchi Lora and Diana Lora for Esta Misma Semana, environmentalist and member of the Academy of Sciences, Luis Carvajal, detailed the severe ecological and legal risks posed by the GoldQuest “Romero” gold project in San Juan de la Maguana. While President Luis Abinader recently announced the immediate suspension of the … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251203"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251262,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251203\/revisions\/251262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}