LatinNews Daily - 05 May 2026

*The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader has ordered the immediate suspension of all activities related to the Romero mine, which is owned by Canadian mining company GoldQuest, in San Juan province. President Abinader’s announcement follows protests on 3 May by thousands of people, according to media reports, at Sabaneta dam, a key water source in the province, which environmental organisations such as Movimiento Suroeste Unido por el Agua y la Vida warn could be affected by the mine. Announcing the suspension of the mine, which is currently in the environmental evaluation phase, President Abinader said that “when citizens express worries and concerns, our duty is to act with caution and transparency”, adding that as per environmental legislation, “if the public massively rejects such a project, it is not viable to continue with it”. President Abinader highlighted that exploration concessions for the mine were first granted in 2005 and renewed in 2010, while they were renewed again in 2015 and 2018 with technical studies authorised to define the project’s scope. President Abinader highlighted that with the project in the environmental evaluation phase, there is currently no authorisation for its exploitation. In a statement in response to Abinader’s announcement, GoldQuest said it “acknowledges recent public demonstrations related to mining activities in San Juan, Dominican Republic, and reiterates its commitment to the responsible and transparent development of the Romero Project”. The planned 2,800 tonne-per-day underground mine is located within the La Escandalosa exploration concession of GoldQuest’s Tireo property which has an area of 3,997.0 hectares and has maiden probable mineral reserves of 7.03m tonnes (t) containing 840,000 ounces of gold, 980,000 ounces of silver and 136m pounds of copper.

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