Dominican mining exports top US$6.5B in six years

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican mining marketexported US$6.5 billion as a result of extractions between 2010 and 2016,foreign sales heading led by the international transaction in gold worth US$4.9billion in the five years, according to a document by the Energy and Mines Ministry(MEM).

The data is published in the 37th edition of theEnergy and Mines Barometer "Evolution of Exports Values ??of Major MineralProducts of the Dominican Republic, from 2010 to June 2016."

"From 2010 to June 2016, the value ofthe Dominican Republic’s main mining products exported to the rest of the worldtotaled US$6.5 billion, mainly distributed in gold, US$4.9 billion (74.42% oftotal), ferronickel US$738 million (US$492 million), silver US$276 million(4.23%), bauxite US$82 million (1.26%), limestone US$ 26 million (0.39%) andothers, such as zinc US$53 million (0.81%)," cites the report in whichRoberto Mallén participated as coordinator of the Statistics and ResearchDepartment of the Energy and Mines Ministry.

The document says that from 2013 after BarrickPueblo Viejo started operations, the vertical increase in the amount ofproduction and exportable gold, managed to cover more than proportionately thedownturn of ferronickel, as a result of the slowdown and subsequent suspensionof Falcondo’s nickel operations. "Between January and June this year, theextraction of ferronickel was restarted to the point of reaching the exportvalue of US$23.2 million."

"On average, the mining sector’s exportgrowth rate was 82.47% from 2011 to the first half of 2016, with a peak of295.16% in 2011 and a floor of -21.97% in 2015. The escalation of these values(3.55%) and industry (2.71%), as well as those in the form of nationals(8.08%), free zones (4.39%) and totals (5.70%)," said the report in whichWilliam Campos Vargas also participated, as analyst of the MEM Statistics and ResearchDept..

Mining exports resulted in an 11.31% share ofthe total exported value.

Gold exports

According to the MEM’s Statistics and ResearchDepartment, "the proportional contribution of gold export values ??to theincrease of all Dominican exports was 48.92%, or nearly 51.65% of the totalcontribution of the Dominican Republic mining sector to such values, in the 78months grouped from January 2010 to June 2016."