DR waters among mining concessions
The majority of the mining projects coincide with the watersheds of the rivers
SANTO DOMINGO. At a time when the nations of the world are alert as to the need to preserve their water resources as a priority for guaranteeing their subsistence and food security for their populations, the Dominican Republic has granted mining concessions which include the majority of the watersheds where the vital liquid is born throughout its territory.
There are 30 major hydrographic watersheds or basins in the country (plus another 17 on the coast), among which there are 16 which are the most important, according to the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Atlas of the Dominican Republic 2011. These serve a population of over five million people, supply water to 14 dams and to 88 of the main aqueducts.
Along these watersheds there are also 50 protected areas, including natural parks, scientific reserves, green belts and wildlife refuges.
These priority watersheds are those formed by rivers such as Yaque del Norte, Yaque del Sur, Yuna, Nizao, Camú, Ozama, Isabela, Las Cuevas, Artibonito, Higuamo, Magüaca, Chacuey, Macasía, Guayubín, Nizaíto and Nigua, and right in these areas there is some type of mining activity.
From the mountains in Santiago Rodriguez there are several important tributaries which feed into the Yaque del Norte, such as the Guayubin, Mao, Rio Grande, Cidra, Cenovi and Guayabl. Nonetheless, located in the area are the El Cerrazo , Phase I, of Aldajo Mining Investments and El Guanal which belongs to Sabaneta Mining Investments, and both are looking for gold and other metals.
Also, along the frontier, between Santiago Rodriguez and Dajabon, covering part of the province of Elias Piña, in the area of Pedro Santana, there are at least seven concession projects, including the Neita, which belongs to Unigold Resources, which is looking for gold, and which covers all of the Artibonito watershed, in the area where the seven most important tributaries that provide water to that river are born. The Artibonito is a basic hydrological resource of the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti where the Peligre Dam is located.
Another zone that is full of concessions is the border area between Santiago and La Vega. More than 15 projects were approved in the area, both for the exploration for metals as well as for the exploration and exploitation of non-metallic minerals. That is the area where the Janico, Jagua, Bso and Bsiguamo rivers are formed, and all of them are tributaries to the Yaque del Norte. The Camu and the Yami rivers in La Vega are also formed in that area.
On the south side of the Central Mountains, which covers part of the province of San Juan, they have granted six mining permits. At least three of the projects coincide with the area where the San Juan River and another three streams are born, which join the Maguana River, and are major tributaries of the Yaque del Sur River. Of these concessions, La Escandalosa, La Bestia, Los Chicharrones, El Crucero and Loma de Cachimbo stand out. They were granted to the Inex Company (Ingeneria y Exploracion, SA).
On the map at the DGM, Monsignor Nouel seems to be a color chart. And each color represents a different type of mining activity. Something similar is happening in the area on Monte Plata and Sanchez Ramirez, above all in the area where the two provinces come together.
Rio Blanco, and the Yuna, Maimon Yuboa, Leonara, Guaya, and Rio Grande all feed into the Camu, and they are born in the high hills of these two provinces, and coincide with the areas contained in concessions. In Monte Plata the rivers Verde, Ozama, Yamasa, Mayiga, Guanuma, Higüero, Mijo, Yabon, Boya, Socoa, Yavi and Sabana are born.
In the East, the majority of the water comes from the northern part of the provinces of El Seibo and Hato Mayor, specifically along the strip that goes from Sabana de la Mar to Nisibon. In Hato Mayor the rivers Yanigua, Sano, and Yabon are born, and these are the major tributaries of the Sasui and Higuamo rivers.
In that same area the rivers Cibao, Magarin, Guaiquia, Magua and Seibo begin which feed into the Soco River. The Quisibani, Piedra and Sanata flow into the Chavon as well as the Duey, which forms the Yuma are also born in the northern part of El Seibo, together with another five, such as Nisibon, Las Lisas, Cedro, Cuaron and Jovero that go into the coastal watershed of the Capitan River. Nonetheless, all the area where these rivers are born is covered by mining concessions, which number more than 30 and include permits to explore for metallic as well as non-metallic minerals and even for the exploitation of non-metallic minerals.
In the North, where the map of concessions is seen to be a little more open, there appears the El Mamey Project, which covers all of the watersheds of the Navas, Unijica, Cao, Nao and Cabia rivers which are the main tributaries of the Bajabonica River in the province of Puerto Plata.
The risk
The Diagnosis of Water in the Americas, worked out by the International Network of Science Academies, reflects the effects of the mining activity on water resources, above all in those exploration projects related to metallic materials. The part that refers to the Dominican Republic, which analyzes the runoff of water from the area of influence of the Barrick Gold project in Cotui, and they show a Ph value of 2.1, with electric conductivity of 3.580 us/com and an iron content above 2000 milligrams per liter.
These values led the Dominican Academy of Science to the conclusion that the waters that come out of the Barrick mine are contaminating the Hatillo Dam waters, which is the largest man-made lake in the country with over 440 million cubic meters of water and which supplies irrigation water to the rice crop of the Lower Yuna Basin.
Information published on the webpage of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) indicate that in the country there are 12 Irrigation Districts which cover more than five million tareas (315,000 has.) and are distributed in some 90,000 Irrigation Boards. (Frank Rodriguez, the INDRHI director did not answer calls from Diario Libre). Regarding this aspect, the Director of Mining, Octavio Lopez, summed up his position by saying "I would hope that that entire country could become a concession for exploration." In the meantime, the Minister of the Environment, Ernesto Reyna, is betting on a harmonious co-existence between the mining activities and nature ince, as he says: "you cannot stop development."
Mining Engineer Carlos Sencion, as well as biologist Luis Carvajal, of the Environmental Commission of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) agree that, while it may be that exploration does not produce an environmental impact, the danger is in "what they might be hiding behind these contracts."
The Law says in articles 133 and 137 that they should not give out concessions above the waters, of the dams or of the populations, but they do it anyway, and this tells you that the objective could be that they are giving them for mines, but if they do not get an exploitation permit, the concessionaires are still the owners of the waters," warns Sencion. He says he is in favor of the explorations as long as they respect the laws.
Environmentalist vs Camipe
"The environmental damage is terrible, and although the objective of the concessionaires has nothing to do with mining it is serious because they are giving them the water," says Luis Carvajal, an environmentalist.
"We are okay, since we have some worried companies, a Minister of the Environment doing his job, responsible mining companies, but there is a lot of chatter about things that are not true and one of these things is that 90% of the water in the world is used for agriculture and of the other 10%, mining uses perhaps between 2% and 3%," says Cristina Thomen Ginebra, the spokeswoman of the Mining and Petroleum Chamber (Camipe).
There are 30 major hydrographic watersheds or basins in the country (plus another 17 on the coast), among which there are 16 which are the most important, according to the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Atlas of the Dominican Republic 2011. These serve a population of over five million people, supply water to 14 dams and to 88 of the main aqueducts.
Along these watersheds there are also 50 protected areas, including natural parks, scientific reserves, green belts and wildlife refuges.
These priority watersheds are those formed by rivers such as Yaque del Norte, Yaque del Sur, Yuna, Nizao, Camú, Ozama, Isabela, Las Cuevas, Artibonito, Higuamo, Magüaca, Chacuey, Macasía, Guayubín, Nizaíto and Nigua, and right in these areas there is some type of mining activity.
From the mountains in Santiago Rodriguez there are several important tributaries which feed into the Yaque del Norte, such as the Guayubin, Mao, Rio Grande, Cidra, Cenovi and Guayabl. Nonetheless, located in the area are the El Cerrazo , Phase I, of Aldajo Mining Investments and El Guanal which belongs to Sabaneta Mining Investments, and both are looking for gold and other metals.
Also, along the frontier, between Santiago Rodriguez and Dajabon, covering part of the province of Elias Piña, in the area of Pedro Santana, there are at least seven concession projects, including the Neita, which belongs to Unigold Resources, which is looking for gold, and which covers all of the Artibonito watershed, in the area where the seven most important tributaries that provide water to that river are born. The Artibonito is a basic hydrological resource of the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti where the Peligre Dam is located.
Another zone that is full of concessions is the border area between Santiago and La Vega. More than 15 projects were approved in the area, both for the exploration for metals as well as for the exploration and exploitation of non-metallic minerals. That is the area where the Janico, Jagua, Bso and Bsiguamo rivers are formed, and all of them are tributaries to the Yaque del Norte. The Camu and the Yami rivers in La Vega are also formed in that area.
On the south side of the Central Mountains, which covers part of the province of San Juan, they have granted six mining permits. At least three of the projects coincide with the area where the San Juan River and another three streams are born, which join the Maguana River, and are major tributaries of the Yaque del Sur River. Of these concessions, La Escandalosa, La Bestia, Los Chicharrones, El Crucero and Loma de Cachimbo stand out. They were granted to the Inex Company (Ingeneria y Exploracion, SA).
On the map at the DGM, Monsignor Nouel seems to be a color chart. And each color represents a different type of mining activity. Something similar is happening in the area on Monte Plata and Sanchez Ramirez, above all in the area where the two provinces come together.
Rio Blanco, and the Yuna, Maimon Yuboa, Leonara, Guaya, and Rio Grande all feed into the Camu, and they are born in the high hills of these two provinces, and coincide with the areas contained in concessions. In Monte Plata the rivers Verde, Ozama, Yamasa, Mayiga, Guanuma, Higüero, Mijo, Yabon, Boya, Socoa, Yavi and Sabana are born.
In the East, the majority of the water comes from the northern part of the provinces of El Seibo and Hato Mayor, specifically along the strip that goes from Sabana de la Mar to Nisibon. In Hato Mayor the rivers Yanigua, Sano, and Yabon are born, and these are the major tributaries of the Sasui and Higuamo rivers.
In that same area the rivers Cibao, Magarin, Guaiquia, Magua and Seibo begin which feed into the Soco River. The Quisibani, Piedra and Sanata flow into the Chavon as well as the Duey, which forms the Yuma are also born in the northern part of El Seibo, together with another five, such as Nisibon, Las Lisas, Cedro, Cuaron and Jovero that go into the coastal watershed of the Capitan River. Nonetheless, all the area where these rivers are born is covered by mining concessions, which number more than 30 and include permits to explore for metallic as well as non-metallic minerals and even for the exploitation of non-metallic minerals.
In the North, where the map of concessions is seen to be a little more open, there appears the El Mamey Project, which covers all of the watersheds of the Navas, Unijica, Cao, Nao and Cabia rivers which are the main tributaries of the Bajabonica River in the province of Puerto Plata.
The risk
The Diagnosis of Water in the Americas, worked out by the International Network of Science Academies, reflects the effects of the mining activity on water resources, above all in those exploration projects related to metallic materials. The part that refers to the Dominican Republic, which analyzes the runoff of water from the area of influence of the Barrick Gold project in Cotui, and they show a Ph value of 2.1, with electric conductivity of 3.580 us/com and an iron content above 2000 milligrams per liter.
These values led the Dominican Academy of Science to the conclusion that the waters that come out of the Barrick mine are contaminating the Hatillo Dam waters, which is the largest man-made lake in the country with over 440 million cubic meters of water and which supplies irrigation water to the rice crop of the Lower Yuna Basin.
Information published on the webpage of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) indicate that in the country there are 12 Irrigation Districts which cover more than five million tareas (315,000 has.) and are distributed in some 90,000 Irrigation Boards. (Frank Rodriguez, the INDRHI director did not answer calls from Diario Libre). Regarding this aspect, the Director of Mining, Octavio Lopez, summed up his position by saying "I would hope that that entire country could become a concession for exploration." In the meantime, the Minister of the Environment, Ernesto Reyna, is betting on a harmonious co-existence between the mining activities and nature ince, as he says: "you cannot stop development."
Mining Engineer Carlos Sencion, as well as biologist Luis Carvajal, of the Environmental Commission of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) agree that, while it may be that exploration does not produce an environmental impact, the danger is in "what they might be hiding behind these contracts."
The Law says in articles 133 and 137 that they should not give out concessions above the waters, of the dams or of the populations, but they do it anyway, and this tells you that the objective could be that they are giving them for mines, but if they do not get an exploitation permit, the concessionaires are still the owners of the waters," warns Sencion. He says he is in favor of the explorations as long as they respect the laws.
Environmentalist vs Camipe
"The environmental damage is terrible, and although the objective of the concessionaires has nothing to do with mining it is serious because they are giving them the water," says Luis Carvajal, an environmentalist.
"We are okay, since we have some worried companies, a Minister of the Environment doing his job, responsible mining companies, but there is a lot of chatter about things that are not true and one of these things is that 90% of the water in the world is used for agriculture and of the other 10%, mining uses perhaps between 2% and 3%," says Cristina Thomen Ginebra, the spokeswoman of the Mining and Petroleum Chamber (Camipe).