The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. The arrival of the Spaniards in 1492, as part of the first Columbus expedition to the Americas, marked the beginning of the exploitation of the island's rich gold and silver reserves. However, these reserves were soon depleted and other goods such as sugar began to shape the Dominican Republic economy until the 1950's, when large scale exploitation of ferronickel and gold began again, with the opening of the first open pit gold mine in 1975.
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