Santo Domingo.- The Minister of EnvironmentPaíno Henríquez, said Wednesday that the environmental entity has not received any application for exploitation of Rare earth In the country, so he refrained from indicating whether or not it is convenient procedure.
However, Henríquez explained that what is currently done is a type of exploitation called CALICATASauthorized through the environment to the Ministry of Energy and Mineswhich consist of extractions of samples that are taken to the laboratory to see their content.
“I do not have the tools to be able to say this exploitation or not to the country because the Ministry (of Environment) has not received any type of exploitation application. What is done is a current exploration and what the Ministry authorized as an exploitation are very limited calicatas, which was authorized to the Ministry of Energy and Mines to do those calicatas, ”said the minister.
By participating in the Weekly Lunch of the Corripio Media GroupPaíno Henríquez said that he cannot comment on the matter because he does not have the type of exploration for these cases.
You can read: Rare Earth
He added that the references he has received are referring to the extraction of bauxite, a dry mining extraction, “in which it was extracted, mounted and went to a ship, without any refinement or processing.”
The minister stressed that only 12 or 14 rare earth refinement plants exist in the world.
You can read: Antonio Isa Conde warns of insufficient studies of rare earths in RD
Marco Rubio visit
It is remembered that, during the visit of the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on February 6, the President Abinader addressed the issue of rare earth reserves in the country. He stressed that preliminary estimates indicate the presence of 100 million tons of these minerals, a figure that described as “significant.” In addition, he announced that in approximately three months there will be an exact evaluation of the total amount of these resources in Dominican territory.
The possible rare earth reserves in the Dominican Republic would be located in the province of Pedernales, in the southern region of the country, near the border.
In this same area, in previous years, important bauxite farms were carried out, which suggests a high potential for the extraction of these strategic minerals.
