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When you think of leading exports from the Dominican Republic, you might think of sugar, coffee, tobacco and cocoa, and when you think of leading industries in this island nation, you might think of tourism.
But the winds of change are blowing, and the Dominican Republic is poised to become very big in the mining industry. It already exports copper, iron and nickel, and it’s about to become a huge exporter of gold!
The Pueblo Viejo project in the Dominican Republic is the biggest gold deposit in the Western Hemisphere. The project is run by Barrick Gold, which picked up the project as part of its Placer Dome acquisition. It owns 60% of Pueblo Viejo; Goldcorp owns the other 40%.
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According to Barrick’s website, Pueblo Viejo now has 23.7 million ounces in gold reserves. That’s an elephant-sized deposit. A whopping 10.3 million ounces of those reserves were added since Barrick took over the project — it just drilled between its known deposits and found other deposits.
I recently had a chance to visit the Pueblo Viejo project as part of my tour of another company, a gold explorer with a land package that is nestled right next to Pueblo Viejo. I can’t tell you that company’s name — its stock is too small, so I have to save it for my Red-Hot Global Resources subscribers.
But what is going on in the Dominican Republic at the big-scale mines is enough to make anyone stand up and take notice.
For example, when I went through Barrick’s property, even though it’s not producing yet, it was a beehive of activity. 7,500 workers are gearing up to make this one of the best mines around. The plant is HUGE — the mill is designed to process a whopping 1,500 tonnes per day of ore.
And when Pueblo Viejo goes into production — expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year — it will produce 1.2 million ounces of gold a year.
How is it that so many people have never heard of this deposit? Well, it’s in the Dominican Republic, which is not known for mining. But together with other local producers, it is going to reshape how we think of the island of Hispaniola, where the Dominican Republic is located.
SOURCE: Uncommon Wisdom Daily