Dominican Republic eyes first rare earth reserves by 2027

The ministry of energy and mines of the Dominican Republic reported that the country has accumulated more than 5,000 results from samples analyzed in its rare earth project, a development that will make it possible to determine the deposit’s resources in November 2026.

The ministry plans to declare the project’s first reserves during the first half of 2027, once the metallurgical, economic, environmental, and logistical studies needed to establish its technical and commercial viability have been completed.

The announcement was made by the minister of energy and mines, Joel Santos, who also praised the Cooperation Framework signed between the Dominican Republic and the United States to guarantee the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, considering it a strategic step to strengthen bilateral cooperation and attract investment.

“This agreement reflects both countries’ understanding of the importance that critical minerals and rare earths have today, not only from an economic and technological standpoint, but also because of their geopolitical dimension and the role they play in the security and resilience of global supply chains,” the minister said.

Cooperation framework

The framework establishes that both countries will seek to mobilize government and private sector support for mining and processing projects through guarantees, loans, equity investments, offtake agreements, insurance, and regulatory facilitation.

It also contemplates that, within six months after the signing, measures will be adopted to channel significant financing to projects located in both countries, in addition to jointly identifying investment opportunities and sources of financing for the sector.

The agreement also includes the creation of mechanisms to strengthen the supply chains of critical minerals and rare earths, along with the commitment to protect those markets against policies unrelated to market conditions and unfair trade practices.

Santos explained that the cooperation also includes the mapping of mineral resources, a component that will allow for deepening the country’s geological knowledge and supporting the diversification and security of supply chains.

Resource determination

“The determination of resources will allow us to have a technically supported estimate of how much material exists, its distribution, and its characteristics. That is an indispensable step before we can properly talk about reserves,” explained Santos.

The official specified that a mineral resource corresponds to a concentration of material whose volume and characteristics can be estimated based on geological evidence and technical analyses, while the reserve is the portion of the resource that is technically and economically viable to extract, also taking into account environmental, logistical, and regulatory factors.

Road to 2027

The ministry is moving forward simultaneously with metallurgical studies, the conceptual logistics framework, economic analyses, and environmental assessments, steps that the ministry considered necessary to determine the overall viability of the project before declaring reserves.

“We are preparing to declare the first reserves during the first half of 2027. To get to that point, it is not enough to know how much material exists; we must demonstrate what part can be used in a viable, responsible and sustainable way,” said the official.

According to the minister, the agreement with the United States takes on special importance in this process because it expands opportunities for technical cooperation, exploration, and project development, in addition to identifying investment and financing mechanisms for the sector.

Regional context

The announcement comes amid growing interest from Washington in diversifying the supply of critical minerals outside China. Days earlier, the United States signed a similar agreement with Colombia during a tour of Secretary of State Marco Rubio through Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.

In Brazil, US-based USA Rare Earth this week completed the purchase of Mineração Serra Verde for US$2.8 billion (bn), while in Argentina a bill is moving forward in Congress to declare rare earths of strategic national interest, and in Peru efforts are under way to unlock a mining portfolio worth more than US$64bn.

The region holds the second-largest volume of known rare earth reserves after China, at a time when Washington is stepping up the search for partners to reduce its dependence on the Asian giant for the supply of minerals considered strategic for the technology and defense industries.