Top official says mining must reflect the country’s reality

Santo Domingo.- Energy and Mines minister Antonio Isa Conde on Monday demanded that sectors pick up the pace to pass the Land Use Law as soon as possible, as starting point for a comprehensive mining policy based on Dominican Republic’s reality.

He said mining shouldn’t be managed like a ship adrift and instead developed with the island’s fragile environment in mind, the people’s development and their habitat.

"We live on an island whose ecosystem has been severely beaten and our reality isn’t similar to other countries such as Chile, Argentina and Peru, with remarkable development in extractive mining," the official said.

Isa said despite that mining exploration and concessions in the country are being carefully studied, a Land Use Law is absolutely needed as a consistent policy.

“Very dear people work in this project but I must say that it marches like syrup, very slow and should be accelerated, because it’s an emergency in the country," the official said interviewed by journalists Edith Febles and Marino Zapete on Colorvision Channel 9.

In another topic the official revealed that he has already spoken with Barrick Gold Pueblo Viejo representatives to find solutions to the contaminated residues dam El Yagal, which he affirms requires urgent cleanup to reduce environmental risks.