Dominican Republic: no Azua exploitation concession for Cemento Santo Domingo

The Abinader Corona family, who part-own Cemento Santo Domingo, reported this morning that after 16 years of work in strict accordance with national laws and legal norms of trade, the government disapproved of the Hatillo company mining concession in the Dominican Republic.  However, Cemento Santo Domingo was never granted exploitation rights for the limestone deposit in Azua province, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The governmental body pointed out that granting this concession would be a flagrant violation of its own laws, Environment Law, a legal framework of public policy, and the Sectorial Law on Protected Areas 202-04, which integrated the 92.78 per cent of the sites of interest of Park Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó.

"By receiving and analysing the light of the laws and rules of formal exploitation concession application, the Ministry was left with no other option than to issue the declaration of disapproval by decision 00022-15, because to do otherwise would be liable to bringing to justice, it compromising its civil and criminal responsibility, “ Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Isa Conde, said.

Cemento Santo Domingo had handled its operations in place on the basis of an exploration concession obtained at the time in other governments were in power, but exploration concessions are not the same as exploitation permits. Moreover, exploration rights only have a validity for five years.