Rinehart mining camp burnt in Ecuador

August 27, 2020

Gina Rinehart’s Ecuador subsidiary Hanrine is facing renewed unrest in the province of Imbabura, Ecuador. On Tuesday 25th, a group of 180 people set fire to a mining camp at one of her concessions in Buenos Aires in north-east Ecuador. More on that here. The attacks came days after the local parish council met and … Read More

Sunstone Metals concession El Palmar an ecological and financial nightmare

August 17, 2020

Sunstone Metals agreement to acquire El Palmar, a copper-gold project in northern Ecuador is an ecological nightmare fraught with risks. El Palmar abuts the Los Cedros Biological Reserve, a scientific observational and research site, with a case for protection soon to be heard at the Constitutional Court in Ecuador. Los Cedros Biological Reserve in north-western … Read More

Rinehart vs Chilean Govt over spoils for copper mine

August 5, 2020

Ecuadorian investigation shows a conflict between Codelco and a subsidiary of Australia’s Hancock Prospecting, Hanrine, over control of the Llurimagua copper mine. Information revealed on August 3, in the Periodismo de Investigación article The war for Llurimagua, sheds light on the activities of a subsidiary company owned by Gina Rinehart, Australia’s wealthiest person, as she … Read More

Mining at Llurimagua – a social and environmental catastrophe

August 5, 2020

Selling the World a Social and Environmental Catastrophe: Ecuador’s Llurimagua Mining Project By Carlos Zorilla The government of Ecuador has been busy trying sell its share of the troubled Llurimagua copper project to a third party of late. Right now it is owned by two state-owned mining companies, Ecuador’s ENAMI and the Chilean giant, CODELCO, … Read More

Gold, Guns and Gina Rinehart’s mining concessions in Ecuador

August 1, 2020

Carlos De Miguel III, the General Manager of Hanrine Ecuadorian Excploration and Mining SA, a subsidiary of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, was apprehended by police for an alleged illegal weapons cache. Mr De Miguel was found with several pistols, rifles, and more than 9,500 rounds of ammunition. A spokesman for Hancock in Australia said in … Read More

Elected local officials threatened with jail for opposing mining

June 5, 2020

(MiningWatchCanada, Ottawa) The elected President and Vice President of a rural municipality in northwestern Ecuador have been threatened with criminal, administrative, and constitutional charges if they approve any measures to prohibit mining. The threat came in response to concerns expressed by the Decentralized Autonomous Government (GAD in Spanish) of “6 de Julio de Cuellaje” parish, … Read More

A new global analysis of the mining industry’s pandemic profiteering

June 4, 2020

Over 300 organizations express solidarity with communities and workers affected by reckless mining industry profiteering during the COVID-19 pandemic Over 300 organizations from around the world have signed onto an open-statement condemning the ways that the mining industry and numerous governments are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to manufacture new mining opportunities and enhance … Read More

Mining operations at risk as thousands protest austerity measures

May 26, 2020

People in Ecuador have taken to the streets again this week despite heightened risks of coronavirus over wildly unpopular economic reforms were reintroduced on May 19. Moreno backed down on the measures in October last year after protests caused such unrest that the government had to flee from the capital Quito to Guayaquil. A number … Read More

Shuar people facing COVID-19 crisis due to mining company

May 3, 2020

Canadian mining company Solaris Resources has been criticised by multiple organisations for its irresponsible conduct in sending seven members of the Shuar communities of Warints and Yawi to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) where they were exposed to COVID-19. Subsequently several members of their families have died, with many more sick. Indigenous … Read More