Top official: Glencore’s planned mine is case closed

Santo Domingo.- Environment minister Bautista Rojas on Sunday reiterated that Glencore Falcondo’s planned mine at Loma Miranda is a closed case and that it’s also the Government’s position.

He said he had announced that decision one year ago after evaluating the environmental impact study submitted by Falcondo (then Xstrata Nickel) and the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) technical report.

"In that regard we denied permission. As clear as that. We, the Ministry of the Environment, on behalf of the Government, said that what we had been promised was environmentally not possible"

Quoted by Diarioibre.com, Rojas said his department hasn’t received any other environmental impact study (from the company), "therefore the position remains the same, regardless of the opinion of any other (Government) agency."

"We, from the environmental point of view are the only ones, by Constitutional and legal mandate, authorized to state an opinion on behalf of the Dominican State and Government regarding that topic, and any other similar agency. The Dominican Government therefore has set its position," Rojas said, accompanied by several senior Environment officials.