CORMIDON mine

We started the day off with delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwiches that were graciously provided to us by our in-house chef, Liselot. Briefly after our breakfast, we shuffled into our bus, Pitufa. Our journey took us to the CORMIDOM mine in the city of Maimon about half an hour away from Bonao. At the mine we met with Jonathan Ruiz (the mine’s environmental scientist and manager), and Mariela Hilario (the only female worker at the mine’s processing plant). They both discussed the safety precautions CORMIDOM abides by in order to ensure the safety of their workers and the regulations they strictly stick to in order to preserve the environment of the surrounding area, as mining can be so detrimental to its surroundings. We later then received a tour of the mine and saw the beginnings of their new underground mine as their currently transitioning from an open pit mine. The cause for this transition is that more resources have been found and the life of the mine has been extended to 2036 (resources were previously set to be exhausted by 2015).

Jonathan and Glimpsers

Mirela Hilario and Jonathan Ruiz and Zoe, our awesome PC

Jonathan describing environmental programs the mine provides the community.

After our tour of CORMIDOM we travelled an hour away to Loma Miranda. Here we ate lunch which was again provided by the ever loved Liselot. We ate delicious pasta salad, ground beef, rice with pigeon peas, avocado, and eggplant. The town majorly opposes the mining industry and has had a long history of strongly opposing the wishes of the Dominican Government and the Canadian mining corporation Falconbridge. The town houses a natural park which under all its beauty contains large mineral resources. We met with Padre Rogelio Cruz and Escalin Gutierrez, two members of the community who devote much of their time and effort to educate the population of Loma Miranda on the detrimental effects of the mining industry on their local environment. They later then encouraged us to take a look at the beauty of Loma Miranda. Locals took us up the mountain (loma) to “La Llovedora,” the source of one of the most important rivers in the Dominican Republic. We enjoyed the vigorous hike and the splash in the water after.

After our hike/splash

Loma Miranda

Padre Rogelio Cruz

Scarlin Gutierrez

After our dinner which consisted of Spanish sausage, melons, cabbage, and sweet potatoes we recollected all our thoughts on the opposing opinions on mining and exploitation of the environment we saw earlier. At the meeting we came to a consensus that as consumers we are detrimental to the fate of places that have lots of resources and low wages such as the Dominican Republic. Minerals that are mined such as copper and nickel in CORMIDOM are essential to the technology that we use everyday. Therefore, to be truly environmental conscious we must trace the products we use to their beginnings be it the food we eat or the phones we are using everyday.

Ben & Steven

Running Nightly Meeting

Liselot’s fantastic cooking

As leaders of the day we assumed responsibility for the behavior and served as the face for Global Glimpse delegation B1C. It proved to be a challenging job to make sure everything ran smoothly, yet the rewards were priceless. We hope Courteney, Mary, and Violet have the same success we had today as our leaders for tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Ben and Steven.