Santo Domingo — The Dominican Republic’s mining industry has sustained its robust upward trajectory through the first five months of 2026, delivering across-the-board gains in production, export volumes, foreign investment, and job creation, new industry data from the Dominican Republic Mining and Petroleum Chamber (CAMIPE) confirms.
Compared to the same period one year prior, mining and quarrying activity expanded by 9.7% year-over-year between January and May. This growth rate is more than double the 4.2% expansion recorded by the Dominican Republic’s overall national economy during the same window, positioning the sector as a key engine of the country’s economic momentum. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, mining contributed 2.1% of the country’s total gross domestic product.
Export performance has been particularly striking for the sector. Through the end of May, total mining exports hit $1.45 billion USD, marking a 67.6% jump from the same period in 2025. These exports generated nearly $1.4 billion USD in net foreign exchange for the country. According to CAMIPE’s analysis, mining now accounts for more than half of the Dominican Republic’s total national exports, and has become the country’s fastest-growing source of foreign currency — outpacing long-standing foreign exchange earners including tourism, remittances, and all other export categories combined.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Dominican mining sector has also surged, making up 17.5% of all FDI inflows received by the country so far this year. Total reported sector sales climbed 52% year-over-year, and the industry currently employs 7,491 workers across the country. These mining jobs also pay well above the national average: the average monthly salary for mining workers stands at 78,456 Dominican pesos, nearly twice the national average monthly wage.
CAMIPE’s report emphasizes that these strong results highlight the ongoing strategic importance of the mining sector to the Dominican Republic’s broader economic stability and growth. To keep this momentum going, the industry group is calling on national policymakers to implement new frameworks that encourage further mineral exploration, streamline burdensome regulatory processes, attract additional global and domestic investment, and advance responsible, environmentally sustainable development practices across the sector.