Falcondo helps 13 group from central provinces become NGOs

Bonao, MonseñorNouel.-The Company Falconbridge Dominicana (FALCONDO) announced the addition of13 Round Tables as Non-governmental Organizations in equal number ofcommunities that are located around the mine in La Vega and Monseñor Nouel.

Pablo González,Falcondo community relations manager, explained that the round table process isthe methodology used by the company from the year 2013 as the communicationchannel to handle projects of Social Responsibility and everything related tothe foregoing relationships.

Gonzalez said that"the first purpose of the roundtables that we set up in each of thecommunities was precisely that it would serve as a channel of communicationbetween Falcondo and communities and that have achieved it a fairly highpercentage, thanks to the cooperation that we received from the leaders ofJayaco, Bonaito, La Minita, Caribe, El Verde, Hato Viejo, Rancho Nuevo, LaPiedra, Ponton, Penalo, 7s and Miranda."

Also, Ido Talmor,Falcondo Social Responsibility Manager, stated that "we are very happyabout this topic of the NGOs, I think it will give much more independence toeach of the communities. As recognized NGOs, it will open the doors for manymore opportunities that they did not have in the past. Maybe today they got thecertificates of NGOs, but the process is not finished, we will continuesupporting them and giving the guidelines on how to get the most out ofit.

At the end of the meeting, Evarista Estévez,President of Bonaito Round Table, thanked the mine company effort: "We thank you for this goalobtained today, for us as communities is very important to be able to moveforward with our project and continue united working hand in hand."