Government starts registry of 7,000+ small-scale miners

Santo Domingo.- The Energy and Mines Ministry on Wednesday began the registration of people in artisanal and small-scale mining and marketing of any mineral, metallic or nonmetallic metal, with the Miners Associations, to comply with the resolution issued last year.

Energy and Mines minister Pelegrin Castillo said the registry aims to gather data on all small miners to obtain the statistics needed for the sector to contribute to GDP.

He said small-scale mining figures with around 7000 workers and around 29 associations in 12 provinces.

Castillo also announced that equipment and personal protection kits will be given to each miner, and contain picks, shovels, boots, lights, gloves, whistles, tunnels, harness, light jackets, sacks, lamps, helmets, ear protectors among others.

The activity was also attended by Mining Dept. director Alexander Medina, Export and Investment Center (CEI-RD) director Jean A. Rodriguez and senior technical and administration staff.