Dominican Today reports that Everton Resources is ramping up its drilling activity in the hope that exploration near the giant Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic will soon pay off.  It is thought that the best place to find a new mine is right beside an existing one, so there may be few better places to look than in the vicinity of the Pueblo Viejo mine in Dominican central region.

It is a theory that Everton Resources Inc. is banking on as it prepares to crank up the drill rigs on its Ampliacion concession near the soon-to-be producing Pueblo Viejo mine, which is owned by Canadian gold mining giants Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp.  Ottawa-based Everton has properties that are scattered around the Dominican Republic. But in the next few months, the company will be focusing heavily on concessions that are located a short distance from the Barrick-operated Pueblo Viejo mine.

There is no mention in the article about the pollution created throughout the region and the mounting awareness of the damages being caused to the environment. In April last year, close to 3,000 Dominicans marched in Cotuí to protest against the Pueblo Viejo gold mine. The protests against Barrick targeted irregularities in the government’s contract with the company, which owns 60% of the mine—the Vancouver-based multinational Goldcorp Inc. owns the other 40%. The protesters also accused Barrick of damaging the environment and archeological sites.

In 2010 rice farmers joined the protest because of pollution issues; Mauricio María, president of the National Rice Producers Federation, said the rice farmers of the northeast would disappear if Barrick and the government couldn’t control pollution of the water going into the Hatillo dam near Cotuí, a source of water for rice farms. Juan Rodríguez Acosta, director of the Museum of the Dominican Man, has also charged that Barrick Gold is dynamiting mountains whose caves contain traces of the indigenous Taino culture.

For original reports, see http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2011/2/26/38735/Everton-Resources-goes-deep-for-gold-in-Dominican-Republic and http://www.ww4report.com/node/8520