SANTO DOMINGO.- The 6-week deadline set by the Environment Ministry (Semarena) for the quarry mines to leave the riverbanks expires today, and those that continue operating within the 150 meter limit of the river channels will be evicted by force starting Monday, public relations chief Mayo Rodriguez said yesterday.

"As of Monday we’ll be visiting each of those aggregate mines and those that haven’t been removed we’ll clear out ourselves,” the official warned.

Semarena affirms that aggregate extraction mines still operate in the Yuna, Camú and Nizao river basins.

Newspaper Diario Libre reports that the quarries continue working normally in the proximities of the Nizao river, alleging that they abide by environmental norms. All except two that are shut down say they respect the established limits and don’t extract materials from the channels, despite their proximity to the Nizao.