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.
Mining concessions in and around Los Cedros Reserve. Image credit: Rainforest Action Group
Los Cedros Biological Reserve in north-western Ecuador has one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the world, with over 200 species with high extinction risk, five of which are regarded as critically endangered by the Ecuadorian government. The reserve covers more than 4,800 hectares (nearly 12,000 acres) of primary cloud forest, and safeguards the headwaters for four rivers, the Rio Manduriacu, the Rio Verde, the Rio Los Cedros, and the Rio Magdalena Chico.
“The challenge of establishing a mine in this area cannot be underestimated. The hills are precipitous, and the main road through the region is barely wide enough to take a single vehicle with a sheer drop on one side. The challenges for transporting mineral ore are enormous. Add to this new laws by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Mines which prevent mining companies from establishing tailings dams upstream. In an area like this, there is nowhere tailings can be safely stored,” says Rebekah Hayden, a member of the Rainforest Action Group.
The elevations at the Sunstone concession climb from 800m to 1400m in less than a kilometre.
“The area forms the watershed for a number of important rivers, including the Rio Manduriacu which runs at the base of the El Palmar concession. The steepness of the site means contamination of the waterways are inevitable,” Rebekah Hayden says.
“Previous owners of El Palmar halted plans for exploration once they realised how difficult the terrain is for such little gain. Sunstone’s purchase may well lure in investors whose money will end up at Bramaderos,” says Anthony Amis, a researcher for the Rainforest Action Group.
Sunstone Metals are just the latest mining company to circle the reserve. The Ecuadorian state mining company ENAMI is jointly exploring the reserve with Chile giant Codelco and Cornerstone Capital Resources. BHP also has claims directly adjacent to, and slightly overlapping the reserve.
The scientific importance of this area was emphasised by a letter-writing campaign organised by the US Centre for Biological Diversity in July to the CEOs of the various mining companies, which was signed by 1200 scientists including Jane Goodall and EO Wilson.
“The local community is strongly opposed to mining, with an ongoing legal campaign against ENAMI and Cornerstone Capital Resources about to go to the Constitutional Court. A new mine in the area could not be established without a protracted legal campaign and active community resistance,” says Rebekah Hayden.
“After several years of fighting the mining companies in courts,in May the Constitutional Court of Ecuador announced it will take on the case of Los Cedros, in a move which could prevent other Australian companies like BHP, Newcrest, Hancock Prospecting, Fortescue Metals and Solgold from mining in Protected Forests,” says Rebekah Hayden.
Los Cedros Reserve was established in 1988 with the help of a grant from the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Bureau and the support of Australian not-for-profit organisation the Rainforest Information Centre.
Ecuadorian investigation shows a conflict between Codelco and a subsidiary of Australia’s Hancock Prospecting, Hanrine, over control of the Llurimagua copper mine.
LLURIMAGUA. Image credit: Periodismo de investigacion
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 tries to gain influence and inroads into the global copper supply.
‘The unstable situation in Ecuador has meant that the planned influence has definitely not gone to plan. Some would say it’s been an unmitigated disaster and could undermine confidence in the entire Ecuadorian mining industry,’ says Anthony Amis, a researcher for the Rainforest Action Group, an organisation investigating the actions of Australian mining companies in Ecuador.
‘The Llurimagua concession is located in the north west of the country and has been the source of conflict between communities in the Intag Valley and the Ecuadorian State since 1995. For instance, 389 troops and elite police were used against the community who opposed the mine in 1994, with a community leader jailed for 10 months on false charges,’ Mr Amis says.
In recent years, the Ecuadorian Government Mining Agency (ENAMI) joined up with the Chilean Government’s Copper Arm (Codelco) to jointly develop the Llurimagua mine. Codelco is the world’s largest copper miner.
‘The Llurimagua region lies under primary cloud forests, and is included as a Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot, one of the most biodiverse regions of earth. Mining would cause massive deforestation and pollution of rivers and streams across a vast area. Hundreds of animals and plants would face extinction if mining was approved,’ Mr Amis says.
The War for Llurimagua article reveals significant details about the fight for control over the copper mine – slated to become one of Ecuador’s largest.
‘The article reveals conflict between Codelco and a subsidiary of Australia’s Hancock Prospecting, Hanrine, over who would control the development of Llurimagua,’ Mr Amis says. ‘The conflict was recently highlighted by the arrest of Hanrine’s manager, Carlos de Miguel for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. Miguel argued in the press that he was innocent and that the Minister Maria Paula Roma was targeting him over other issues.’
Apparently, Hanrine and Codelco had been in dispute over Llurimagua since 2017, with Hanrine offering up to $400m for access to the Llurimgua concession. Codelco were more or less granted the concession for “free” by the support of past Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
‘Hanrine was granted access to 6 mining concessions by Lenin Moreno’s Government in January 2018, but a public relations calamity unfolded at the same time, with 10,000 illegal miners starting a gold rush on one of those concessions, Imba 2. The Government sent in 2000 soldiers to clear out the concession in July 2019 due to murders, violence and influence of mafia cartels. It is unclear if Hanrine has gained back control of the concession and who pays for the massive remediation costs due to environmental damage. Welcome to Ecuador,’ Mr Amis says.
Hanrine apparently wrote dozens of letters to the Ecuadorian Government requesting that the Llurimagua concession by opened up to an auctioning process. In response to this pressure, Codelco’s Attorney General recently wrote to Hancock’s Executive General Manager in Perth, more or less saying “Stop interfering in our business”.
Furthermore, ‘…any subsequent action by Hancock will undoubtedly constitute conscious and intentional interference that could be extremely detrimental to Codelco's contractual rights.”
“In light of the foregoing, Codelco requests that Hancock and any of its subsidiaries and / or affiliated entities immediately desist from any conduct that may interfere, directly or indirectly, with Codelco's contractual relationships related to the Llurimagua Project. Additionally, Codelco reserves all of its rights against Hancock with respect to any past or ongoing conduct that interferes with its contractual relationships as set forth above, including its right to request injunctive relief, damages and any other order deemed appropriate in light of the circumstances ”.[1]
Carlos Miguel has had apparent influence with both the Correa and Moreno Governments. He was also obviously influential in Hanrine getting the 6 concessions near Buenos Aires under the Moreno Government and had developed a close friendship with Correa’s Minister of Mines, Javier Cordova. Furthermore, Miguel had also formed a relationship with ex-Enami manager Stevie Gamboa, who on leaving Enami became the legal advisor for Hanrine. Miguel also ran a private security company and has a detailed past linking him with privileged information regarding a number of infrastructure developments in Ecuador.
‘If Miguel’s recent brush with the law is a payback of some kind from the Ecuadorian Government, one has to wonder what else he has done to obviously upset the Ecuadorian State. One also has to wonder what the response will be from Miguel and Hanrine?,’ Mr Amis says.
The world’s resource companies continue to target South America for raw resources, including resources for renewable technology. Copper is being marketed as a requirement for electric cars, batteries and the like. If markets are denied by Governments, industrialists can mount all forms of pressure on non-compliant Governments. This has recently been highlighted in a number of publications concerning Elon Musk and lithium in Bolivia.
[1] As quoted in the Periodismo de Investigación article: https://periodismodeinvestigacion.com/2020/08/03/la-guerra-por-llurimagua/
A forest reserve in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, originally set up with Australian Government support and home to over 200 species at risk of extinction, has been scheduled for a landmark legal case. In a precedent-setting move, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador has announced it will take on the case of the Los Cedros Protected Forest, which is threatened by grand-scale copper and gold mining, by using unique Rights of Nature laws enshrined in the constitution.
Edgar Merlo, who heads the legal team for Los Cedros, says: “The [Constitutional] Court’s ruling in this case would be a first in Ecuador: on the Rights of Nature, the right to prior consultation of communities, and the right to legal certainty, since concessions were granted without respecting the declaration of protective forests. The final judgement by the Constitutional Court in this case could change the legal focus in Ecuador, South America, and the entire world on the Rights of Nature and the rights of local communities, so that mining concessions are not granted in Protected Forests.”
One of the UK’s leading environmentalists, Jonathon Porritt echoed this view: “Ecuador was the first nation to include the Rights of Nature in its constitution,” he said. “It could now become the first nation to protect large swathes of biodiversity, based upon this constitutional innovation. This would set an invaluable precedent worldwide.”
Plate-billed Mountain Toucan. Image credit: Murray Cooper
Los Cedros Biological Reserve in north-western Ecuador was established in 1988 with the help of a grant from the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Bureau and the support of Australian not-for-profit organisation the Rainforest Information Centre.
Los Cedros is one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the world, with more than 4,800 hectares of primary cloud forest, and it safeguards the headwaters of four important watersheds. It protects over 200 species with high extinction risk, five of which are regarded as critically endangered by the Ecuadorian government. (see Roy et al. 2018, iNaturalist, and the Los Cedros website for more information.)
“The remoteness and high-quality of the habitat explain why there are six species of cats and three species of primate, including some of the last critically endangered brown-headed spider monkeys in the world, as well as the endangered Andean spectacled bear. New species are also being discovered every year,” explained Dr Mika Peck from Sussex University.
“This biodiversity was recognised when the Constitutional Court specifically cited the importance of Los Cedros in preserving the last populations of the spider monkey and the Andean spectacled bear which is in danger of extinction,” says John Seed, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre.
José DeCoux, the manager of Los Cedros says: “Mining in Protected Forests is a violation of the legal status of declared Protected Areas, the collective rights of indigenous peoples, the Rights of Nature, and the right of communities to prior consultation before potential environmental damages.”
Mining concessions in and around Los Cedros Reserve. Image credit: Rainforest Action Group
In 2017, the Ecuadorian government announced new concessions for mining exploration on over 2.9m hectares (6.17m acres) of land, a roughly 300% increase. Many of these exploratory concessions are in previously protected forests and indigenous territories. Mining exploration is also occurring in headwater ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots of global importance like Los Credos, and appears to be in violation of Ecuadorian law and international treaties.
“More than 30% of Protected Forests have been under imminent threat from mining since 2017, when a policy change within the Ecuadorian government allowed these protected lands to be included in mining concessions,” explained Paul Gilding, former Executive Director of Greenpeace Australia and Greenpeace International.
As part of this rapid mining expansion, BHP and Canadian mining company Cornerstone Capital Resources were given mining permits in collaboration with the Ecuadorian state mining company, ENAMI.
“The permit for mining was given despite the Ministry of Environment’s own publication citing Los Cedros in its ‘Areas of Priority for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Ecuador’,” says John Seed.
The Los Cedros Protected Forest authorities won their case for an Action of Protection in the Provincial Court of Imbabura in June 2019, which stripped the mining companies of their operating permits. The government, working alongside the mining companies, subsequently appealed against the decision.
Meanwhile, the mining company Cornerstone Capital Resources continued exploration within the protected area in direct contravention of the court order, despite overwhelming opposition in the region, and without the appropriate permits.
“This case expresses the current conflict between the Ecuadorian government and its intention to open the country’s untapped oil and mineral reserves to foreign investment and the long-held public sentiment in Ecuador against extractionist economic development,” says John Seed.
“The case will help determine the balance between short-term economic gains through mining development and the slower — but generally more sustainable — economic development that accompanies long-term biodiversity conservation,” explained John Seed.
“This case has implications not just for Los Cedros, but for all 186 Protected Forests in Ecuador, totalling some 2.4m hectares,” said Dr Bitty Roy, Professor of Biology at the University of Oregon and one of a number of scientists for whom Los Cedros is a research base.
Globally, this is the first case where constitutional protections for nature will be evoked at a national level to protect an ecosystem from large-scale mining. Ecuador remains the only country in the world to have enshrined these rights in its Constitution. It is also a country that has recently attracted a massive amount of interest from transnational mining companies, who see vast potential in its mineral wealth, particularly copper and gold.
Australia is Ecuador’s biggest investor, with companies like SolGold, BHP, Newcrest, Hancock Prospecting, Fortescue Metals, Titan and Tempus Resources pouring millions into copper and gold exploration.
Around 750,000 hectares of legally Protected Forests across the country are currently covered by mining exploration concessions. Australian mining companies stand to be impacted by any positive ruling on the case, with at least 67 concessions covering, in whole or part, Indigenous territories or Protected Forests.
Aussie miner SolGold would be most impacted by the ruling, with 19 concessions covering Protected Forests and 18 covering Indigenous territories.
Roy, Bitty A., Martin Zorrilla, Lorena Endara, Dan C. Thomas, Roo Vandegrift, Jesse M. Rubenstein, Tobias Policha, Blanca Rios-Touma, and Morley Read. (2018). New mining concessions could severely decrease biodiversity and ecosystem services in Ecuador. Tropical Conservation Science. 11: 1940082918780427. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/ 19400829187804
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, in the diverse agricultural and cloud forest region of Intag, that the government of Ecuador was taking advantage of the COVID-19 emergency to impose the Llurimagua copper-gold project against local opposition.
Graham Richards. Image credit: Mining Watch Canada
GAD President Ángel Widberto Flores Pilatuña and Vice President Graham Richards received a letter from the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Resources (MERNNR) on May 27, which threatens them with criminal, administrative, and constitutional charges if they approve any anti-mining related norms at the parish level:
“Any approval of a normative or administrative act by the GADs which attempts to prohibit mining activities could result in the imposition of legal actions before the justice tribunals… and also prosecution under the criminal code.”
The letter was responding to a communique that the parish government wrote to President Lenin Moreno on April 18, 2020, to express its concerns regarding the government’s signing of a joint venture agreement with Chilean mining giant, Codelco, to push forward the controversial Llurimagua project. The letter noted that the government is taking advantage of the pandemic sanitary emergency situation to push the project through without the consent of the local communities, a move which they consider illegitimate and illegal, and highlighted the region’s resistance to industrial mining for over 25 years.
In response to the threats, several Ecuadorian organisations released a statement condemning the move, stating that “the government, in collusion with mining companies, CANNOT put “strategic projects” over and above human and constitutional rights. ...The actions of the MERNNR demonstrate...that Ecuadorians are living in a mining dictatorship.”
This is the latest of a series of actions that governments and mining companies have taken during the COVID-19 pandemic to repress widespread anti-mining sentiment across the globe and in Ecuador, reveals a new report. In May, the Ecuadorian government approved a protocol for mining companies to operate during the pandemic, which included providing military convoys for mineral transportation. This came just after three public officials were arrestedin the province of Morona Santiago for attempting to block trucks going to Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte mine for fear their entry into the remote Amazon region could help transmit the virus.
Despite the threats, the GAD is not backing down. “We will not allow the government or companies to steamroll over our legitimate decisions and push through mega-mining. This pandemic cannot be used as an excuse to impose these projects on us, or our future generations,” said GAD Vice-President Graham Richards.
Cuellaje is facing multiple mining threats: Chilean copper giant Codelco, Australian mining giant BHP, and Canadian junior mining company Cornerstone Capital Resources all have concession rights in the area. Mining activities are widely opposed in the region due to its ecological sensitivity and its rich and diverse small-scale agricultural production, ancient forests, and vibrant tourism sector.
For more information contact:
Graham Richards, Cuellaje Parish (Spanish and English), +593 98 846 1692
Kirsten Francescone, MiningWatch Canada (Spanish and English), +1 (437) 345-9881
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 their damaged reputations.
The statement identifies four major trends in how the mining industry has abused the pandemic to turn a profit and advance their interests, putting land and water protectors at greater risk of harm:
Ignoring the threat of the pandemic and continuing to operate, putting communities and workers at grave risk of infection;
Continuing violence against defenders and repressing community protests, many long-standing, in order to promote more mining;
Donating money, sanitary supplies and test-kits to cover up their dirty operations and portray themselves as public saviours; and
Securing regulatory changes to eliminate public oversight and expedite permits for their operations.
The Global Solidarity Statement condemns the responses of companies and governments to the pandemic as aggressions which exacerbate the multiple pandemics – health, economic, violence, militarization and corporate capture - that Indigenous peoples, affected communities and workers face on a daily basis.
In the context of an intersecting global health, economic, ecological and climate crisis, they also assert that healthy communities, Indigenous peoples, workers, and social movements – not the profits of predatory mining corporations – are essential during the pandemic and must be at the centre of plans moving forward.
Snapshot report - Voices from the Ground: How the Global Mining Industry is Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic
A snapshot report, Voices from the Ground: How the Global Mining Industry is Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic, was also released today highlighting dozens of cases from around the world that exemplify the trends identified in the statement. You can access the report here and add your name to the Global Solidarity Statement here.
Report Shows Global Mining Industry Profiting from Pandemic, Putting Communities and Workers at Risk from Disease, Repression and Regulatory Rollbacks
We may be wearing masks, but our eyes are wide-open saying NO to Megamining. Argentina. Image credit: Nicolas Palacios
Since March, the mining industry has been declared ‘essential’ in many countries worldwide, enabling them to operate amid government lockdowns with devastating results, according to a new report. The analysis draws from field reports and a review of nearly 500 press, company and civil society statements, 180 of which are directly related to community and/or workers concerns.
As a result of the industry’s behavior in the midst of the pandemic, the authors note, mining sites worldwide are emerging as hot spots of the disease, putting at grave risk workers and nearby Indigenous and rural communities, many of whom already suffer mining-related health impacts.
More than 3,000 mine workers in 18 different countries have reported outbreaks at their mines, leading to fear that the virus will spread among local populations with pre-existing mine-related illnesses that make them particularly vulnerable.
Massive outbreaks at the Cobre Panama (Panama), Olimpiada (Russia), Lac des Iles (Canada) and Antamina (Peru) mines went unrecognized as hundreds of workers tested positive. Nonetheless, the report reveals, companies continued to operate. Lack of testing in many places and limited oversight mean actual numbers could be far higher, the analysts said.
Under lockdown, land and water protectors are at heightened risk. Reports from the field suggest companies and governments are using the pandemic to stifle or repress long-standing community protests, such as in the Philippines, Honduras, Turkey and Ecuador. Individual defenders also are being threatened and killed with greater intensity in countries such as Colombia and Mexico, according to sources on the ground. In some cases, new legislation is being implemented that could further criminalise social protest or enable greater repression.
In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte’s government is using the pandemic to continue his attack on human rights and land defenders. In April, protesters at the peaceful encampments protesting Oceana Gold’s Didipio mine were violently evicted by police forces. Civil-society organizations there have also condemned the assasination of anti-mining activists and continued red-tagging.
“Even under the COVID-19 Pandemic, extrajudicial killings and other forms of human rights violations persist under the despotic rule of President Rodrigo Duterte,” remarked Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment in a press statement.
In Honduras, the administration of Juan Orlando Hernández has imposed a 24-hour curfew and suspended basic rights, including freedom of expression and assembly, using the military and police to enforce measures. Meanwhile, authorities opened an online window to make it even easier for companies to obtain environmental permits, all of which happens in secret.
A message for and from the hills- Save Our Sperrins! Image credit: Niamh Ní Bhriain and Lorraine Ní Bhriain
“This is just like 1998, when the mining law was passed in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, one of the biggest disasters to hit Honduras that took the life of 20,000 people and left 3 million others homeless, with an economic impact that set us back 40 years. Today, in the midst of a global humanitarian emergency due to COVID-19, the illegitimate government of Juan Orlando Hernández is taking advantage of the crisis to put in place corrupt measures to favour mining,” stated Pedro Landa from the Reflection, Investigation and Communication Team (ERIC/Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación), Honduras
Elsewhere, companies are also securing regulatory changes to benefit them now and in the future, according to the analysis.
In Brazil, a video released by the country’s Supreme Court revealed the Environment Minister stating that the pandemic is an “opportunity to deregulate environmental policy.” In the last two months, the Bolsonaro government has fired top environmental enforcement officers for controlling illegal mining in the Amazon, while dolling out hundreds of concessions rights and moving to approve legislation to further open up Indigenous territories to mining activities.
“Since Jair Bolsonaro took office, our indigenous lands are increasingly affected by predatory economic activities that threaten the integrity of our ancestral territories and the natural resources essential for our survival. With the COVID-19 crisis, the illegal activities of miners, loggers, missionaries, drug traffickers, and other invaders, pose an even greater threat, because they can bring the virus to our territories and communities. For this reason, we demand that any economic activity in our territories be stopped immediately, to guarantee the protection of our children, women, men, youth, wise elders, and relatives in voluntary isolation,” commented Nara Baré, coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations from the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB).
In this context, mining company donations to communities and governments is seen as whitewash, especially as they place communities, workers and the environment at further risk.
“COVID-19 isn’t the only health crisis we’re facing. For a decade, communities surrounding the Escobal mine have fought to protect their health from mining activities. Guatemalan courts ordered Pan American Silver to suspend its operations during the consultation and this includes community outreach, which gives rise to tension and conflict. Pan American Silver should tell its employees to stay home and stop trying to buy support for the mine during this significant health crisis,” said Luis Fernando García Monroy on behalf of the Xinka Parliament.
Overall, the stories captured in this report reveal that mining-affected people face multiple pandemics – health, economic, violence, militarization, and corporate capture – which are all getting worse as the Covid-19 pandemic intersects with the predatory mining industry, which they continue to battle to defend their land, water, health and livelihoods.
“Envisioning a way forward that will ensure good food, clean air and water, healthy communities and planetary survival cannot rely on mining corporations and their backers, who are driven by their ruthless pursuit of profits. However, the health-centred struggles and collective approaches of mining-affected communities and Indigenous peoples can help us to refocus on what is truly essential toward a healthier future for all,” says Kirsten Francescone, Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada.
*This report was put together with contributions from Earthworks (USA), Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program (USA), London Mining Network (UK), MiningWatch Canada, Terra Justa, War on Want (UK) and Yes to Life No to Mining with support from many other organizations.
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.
Protestors in Quito. Image credit: CONAIE
A number of organisations including the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the Indigenous and Peasant Movement of Cotopaxi (MICC), The People’s Front, and the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT), called for the national mobilisation last week.
Protestors called for “employment, education and health for the people” in a wave of discontent and lack of faith in a government seen to be deepening the crisis in Ecuador.
“The fact that Moreno is announcing new measures in the middle of a pandemic is a concerning development and says a great deal about his failure to protect the population,” says Rebekah Hayden, a member of research and advocacy organisation, the Rainforest Action Group.
The measures will see education spending slashed, 12,000 public servants lose their jobs and more than 10 public companies close or merge, including the largest airline in Ecuador (TAME). Salaries of public servants would also be reduced and fuel subsidies axed.
Ecuador has been hard hit by Covid-19, with more than 37,000 confirmed cases and over 3000 confirmed deaths. Given that health care is limited in much of the country and testing has been scarce, the true figure is likely to be significantly higher.
“Many of these reforms, including fuel price rises, will see the poorest Ecuadorians and small-scale farmers hit the most. Closing public companies will lead to further unemployment, a disaster in a country that is already struggling with the huge impact of coronavirus on work and employment, on top of a high level of existing poverty.” Ms Hayden said.
“The reforms by the Ecuadorian government are part of IMF and World Bank mandates that seek to open Ecuador further to international investment, and pave the way for widespread copper and gold mining despite resistance from the population. The IMF loan was provisioned on foreign investment, particularly strategic mining projects such as SolGold’s proposed Cascabel mine which acts as collateral for the loans. Many of these mining projects are still being contested by locals who say they haven’t been consulted,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“It is also concerning that Moreno’s measures came only a week after he announced that all mining restrictions were to be lifted, with military being used to protect their activities. The Rainforest Action Group is worried that the military will be used to push through mining operations in areas where there has been long-standing opposition to mining projects – some of which are currently being contested in court over claims they are illegal due to lack of consultation.
‘The new unrest adds to existing concerns about mining companies continuing to operate in indigenous territories and remote communities despite the risks of coronavirus. At Fruta del Norte, Miguel Gonzalez, the Mayor of Zamora, is concerned that transportation of ore will allow the virus to spread in the province,” Rebekah Hayden says.
“The government’s inability to act effectively in a crisis was made apparent when at least 550 bodies were not collected for up to eight days at Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main port, in April. The current debacle indicates that the government cannot ensure a safe environment for mining – particularly not in the midst of an epidemic,” Rebekah Hayden says.
A major Australian company has reportedly put in a US$420 million offer for the controversial Codelco-ENAMI Llurimagua project in the Intag region of Ecuador according to mineral expert lawyer.
Minerals expert lawyer Stevie Gamboa Valladares said in Prensa Minera on April 10: "Llurimagua is a mining project located near the Intag forest, an area of enormous conflict. It is a strategic alliance between the National Mining Company of Ecuador ENAMI and CODELCO, which is the National Copper Corporation of Chile. This project, which is part of a binational agreement, has been suspended for several months as both countries have failed to define the appropriate conditions for their alliance and association."
Twenty three reasons why Codelco should stay out of Intag
This then, is an attempt to draw attention to some of the hurdles Codelco, or any mining company, would face if they tried to open up a mine in Intag.
Cloudforest. Image credit: Carlos Zorilla
Studies and more Studies
To justify their existence in certain projects, mining companies, when they can afford it, hire hot-shot NGO’s to carry out interviews and studies to ascertain popular perception on mining, identify key players, and confirm that they are loved. Then they actually go ahead and base their decisions on the study’s results! Even though they know they are lies at worst, or at best, written to please the funders. As if an area’s complexity and attitudes could be studied in a few days or weeks.
A Brand New Century
If there’s anyone interested in investing in Intag’s mining project reading this, you probably know- or should know- as all responsible mining companies can attest to (as well as key players like the World Bank), that support from the Executive Branch of government is not nearly enough guarantee a project’s success. You need genuine (not manufactured or self-delusional) social license issued freely, without pressures or intimidation. In fact, national government support is no guarantee at all the project will succeed. So, do NOT bank on the government’s enthusiastic endorsement. You’ll lose. Big time.
I am positive that if most INVESTORS were find out about all the risks and obstacles facing mining in this corner of Ecuador, they would pull out.
This, then, is one more attempt to try to inform of the reality behind the lies and distortions being generated around the Junín mining project, and just 21 of the reasons why this project, as BN Americas pointed out, is bound to fail (click here).
IMPACTS
Equipment installed in Junin by Codelco.
A. Based on the Bishi Metals Environmental Impact Assessment of mining in Intag, and on a small (450,000 ton) copper mine (a couple of years later they inferred the existence of 5x more copper)
1. Intag is no like the Atacama desert, where Codelco has its copper mines. Besides being super biodiverse, there are communities all over the place. According to the Study, the mining project would relocate hundreds of families from four communities. Afterwards, the Japanese found more five times more copper, which could increase the number of communities affected by two- at the very least. Relocation of communities is more than enough to stop most extractive projects.
2. It would impact primary cloud forests. What’s so special about cloud forests? Less than 2.5% of the world’s tropical forests are cloud forests. They are not only exceptionally biologically diverse- as well as severely threatened- but they play an outsize role in protecting important headwater watersheds.
3. The project would cause massive deforestation (in the words of the experts preparing the Study). The small mine would directly impact 4,025 hectares.
4. The deforestation, according to the Japanese, would lead to drying of local climate, affecting thousands of small farmers (the EIA used the word desertification). You think communities will let this happen once they truly get the picture???
A rare frog from the Intag region. Image credit: Carlos Zorilla
5. Intag’s forests belong to the world’s top Biodiversity Hotspot; the Tropical Andes. The scientist working on the study identified 12 species of mammals and birds facing extinction that would be impacted by the project, including jaguars, spectacled bears, mountain tapirs and the brown-faced spider monkey. (Based on incomplete studies, Decoin identified more than 30 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals, and there could be dozens more).
Every year new species are found in Ecuador’s cloud forests, and this includes the spectacular Prince Charles frog, as well as the only carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in the last 35 years. In addition, the area has several other endemic species, such as the recently discovered Shape-shifting frog (Pristimantis mutabilis), and the Black-breasted Puffleg Hummingbird, which exists in only two patches of high altitude cloud forests- one of them located in Intag.
6. There are pristine rivers and streams everywhere within the concession. The EIA predicted they would be contaminated with lead, arsenic, chromium, cadmium and other toxic substances.
7. The project would, unquestionably, destroy pre-Incan Yumbo archeological sites. This is one of the least studied cultures in Ecuador.
8. It would impact the Cotacachi-Capayas Ecological Reserve (one of the world’s most biologically diverse protected areas and the only large one in all of western Ecuador).
Besides these very worrying impacts identified in the Study (for a mine a fraction of what it could end up being)… there are other significant hurdles.
B. Legal hassles
9. Large-scale mining would violate the legally-binding Cotacachi County Ecological Ordinance created in 2000. Only the Constitutional Tribunal can rule on the validity of the Ordinance in light of the new Constitution. And the Tribunal has not.
10. Ecuador’s new Constitution demands that communities be consulted before any project impacting their social or natural environment takes place; a Constitutional guarantee that has been disregarded from day one. The Constitution also grants nature rights, and the people right to Sumak Kawsay, or a Good Life (also translatable as Harmonious Life) . Good luck trying to convince a decent government and world opinion that open pit mining will not violate these two fundamental rights (no matter how obscenely the government decides to define the indigenous concept of a “Good Life”). Just because a government does its best to distort the Constitution does not mean a future one will do the same.
Waning political support
11. One of the things the government likes to underline is that it has the area´s political support. As of February 2014 this is no longer true, as the president’s party, Alianza País, lost badly in local government elections in Imbabura province, site of the mining project. In fact, Imbabura was one of the provinces where Mr. Correa’s party lost more municipalities (5 out of 6) than anywhere else in the country. One of those Municipalities is the Cotacachi, which encompasses the Llurimagua mining concession. The new Mayor, Jomar Cevallos, is firmly opposed to mining.
Protests in the capital, Quito. Image credit: Carlos Zorilla
C. Opposition
There is widespread opposition to the Intag mining project. This includes:
12. The Parish township governments the concession is located at, plus County-wide indigenous and campesino organizations. The new threat has actually mobilized more organization at the local, county and national level, than ever before.
Community Opposition. Most communities surrounding the mining project are still, after all these years, opposed to the project. Eighteen years of resistance has honed their skill in resisting (the right to resist is now a right protected by the Constitution). In fact, on November 2013 the government tried to carry out an environmental impact study were stopped by the communities- in spite of heavy police presence, and military in the area..
D. Human Rights
13. After years of stopping dozens of attempts by government and private companies of accessing the mining concession that overlap communal land in order to carry out the environmental impact study and begin exploration, the government and Codelco only succeeded in carrying out the study in May of 2014 with the help of hundreds of police that terrorized the area for two months and violated rights, such as the right to freely circulate. To intensify the intimidation, a month earlier Javier Ramírez, president of the Junín community was arrested and jailed under highly irregular circumstances, which have been denounced by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, and The International Human Rights Federation, as well as several national human rights groups. Javier was released after being sentenced in February of 2015 but only after serving 10 months in jail. His brother Victor Hugo remains in hiding accused of sabotage, the same criminal offense as his brother, for putting up resistance to the presence of Enami employees in their territory.
14. 90% of NGO’s in Cotacachi County and Intag oppose the project. In late 2012, the most important civil society organizations in Intag wrote a letter to Chile’s president to make sure he understood that the organizations would again rise to defend the area if Codelco or anyone went ahead and tried to revive the project. .
Looking at contaminated waterfalls. Image credit: Carlos Zorilla
E. Exaggerated Copper Claims
15. In 2007, Micon International, the entity contracted by Ascendant Copper to evaluate the Junin copper deposit, said that it could not confirm their earlier estimates due to degradation of samples. Copper Mesa had been saying all along that the Junin copper deposit had four times more copper than what the Japanese inferred after years of exploration. In all, 2.26 million tons were inferred by the Japanese, which is a little less than 1/10th of what the world consumes annually (and it would take decades to mine it all out).
The pristine waters of Intag, under threat. Image credit: Carlos Zorilla
F. Further environmental challenges
16. The area receives between 3000 and 4000 millimeters of annual rainfall. Heavy rainfall, abundant underground aquifers, and heavy metals in the ore make for a deadly mix. Not only that, but they raise the price of mining considerably, while greatly increasing the risks of man-made disasters, such as landslides. For an idea of what a landslide can do in an open pit mine, go here:
17. The ore contains toxic heavy metals and sulfur (which will cause Acid Mine Drainage).
18. There is a superabundance of underground water (according to Japanese EIA). This is bad news for mining companies and even worse news for the environment.
19. The area where they found the copper is exceptionally steep and mountainous, making mining much more difficult and expensive than most mines.
20. There are clear indications that Junín’s copper is very deep, making mining much more environmentally destructive and economically risky. Emphasis on Economically risky.
21. The Toisan Range has many geological faults, posing significant earthquake risks.
22 & 23. The 2019 discovery of the two endemic frogs (see above) that will, without a doubt, become extinct if mining is permitted. An issue ripe for the equivalent of the Supreme Court to decide if it violates the Constitutional Rights of Nature.
There are, in fact, more than 23 reasons for Codelco to stay out of Intag. But these should suffice for any company that considers itself responsible and to realize that Intag’s forests and inhabitants should be a no go zone. https://youtu.be/QRinnhejBIw
Despite mining companies saying they are suspending operations in Ecuador due to Covid-19, on the ground work continues to take place, angering at-risk local communities and indigenous groups.
Image credit: Acción Ecológica
“The Rainforest Action Group is concerned that miners moving through the region are putting locals at risk. Four miners located at Rocafuerte, the operational base for Solgold's Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador, have apparently tested positive for the virus.[1]On Monday 30th March, the entrance of a hostel in Ibarra was blocked with dump trucks out of fears authorities were transferring COVID-19 patients to the hostel,” says Ms Liz Downes, a member of the rainforest Action Group.
“Indigenous groups and local communities are furious that mining employees are continuing to enter their communities despite the risks of coronavirus.It also appears that mining companies are taking advantage of curfews to install machinery at controversial sites without resistance,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden, another member of the Rainforest Action Group.
On March 18, environmental group Acción Ecológica denounced Codelco and ENAMI for capitalising on the state of emergency to put in machinery at Cotapaxi, south of Quito.[2]
Chinese mining companies TerraEarth S,A., and Ecuacorriente have also been denounced for continuing operations despite the high risk to local Indigenous groups. A camp in the San Carlos Panantza mining complex was intentionally set on fire and destroyed.
“Many of the Indigenous tribes in Ecuador have already been devastated by epidemics, such as polio which wiped out around two-thirds of the Waorani in the 1950s. Another epidemic in the region would decimate these groups further,” says Liz Downes.
“The surge in mining activity is also putting water sources at risk. The residents of the northern area of the Esmeraldas province stated on April 4th that mining activities have intensified since the announcement of the state of emergency, contaminating the rivers that constitute their drinking and washing supply[3],” Liz Downes says.
“The government’s inability to act effectively should crisis hit is apparent at Ecuador’s main port, Guayaquil, where bodies were piling up in houses and apartments. At least 550 bodies were not collected for up to eight days. Inhabitants were forced to make posts of their plight on social media in an effort to draw the government’s attention to the situation,” Liz Downes says.[4]
Mining and petrochemical companies in Ecuador are deemed essential services and are exempt from the suspension of normal work. Fruta del Norte has reduced its workers from 1,080 to 400-500, and Mirador is working with 800 from a usual 2400.[5]At the Mirador mine in south-east Ecuador, Ecuacorriente is constructing their massive tailings dam rather than continuing with mining operations as local authorities have suspended general mining activities to avoid transportation of ore and movements on and offsite.
“Although SolGold and Lundin Gold have announced employees would be largely working from home, this appears to largely refer to professional-level employees. On the ground, it appears that many contractor companies are continuing with usual operations, while a reduced number of employees are working onsite,” Rebekah Hayden says.
“Soldiers have effectively trapped an undisclosed number of miners in the mining camp at Mirador. Whether they are able to isolate effectively is not clear. This was as a result of a move by local Emergency Operations Committee (COE) of the canton El Pangui on March 19 to restrict the movement of miners,” Rebekah Hayden says.
“As MiningWatch Canada has pointed out[6], mining camps are often congested and located far from adequate medical facilities and often have reduced access to clean water. Managing and containing coronavirus under these conditions is very unlikely. The risk to locals from soldiers who may have contracted the virus, or any employees entering or leaving is very high. Mining activities should not be allowed to continue at this time,” says Rebekah Hayden.
Communities barricaded a bridge in Chical, close to the Colombian border, on January 17 to express their frustration with mining companies continuing to explore despite community opposition. The event took place around 5 kilometres from SolGold’s Chical concessions, where they announced significant deposits last year.
From a video still by Nelson Muepaz. Chical community members resist ENAMI exploration attempts.
“The blockade was the latest in a series of measures by El Pablo community members to protest ongoing exploration attempts by SolGold subsidiary Carnegie Ridge Resources and ENAMI (part-owned by Canadian company Cornerstone Resources). ENAMI’s Espejo concessions cover more than 90% of the Cerro Golondrinas Protective Forest which forms the headwaters of five rivers,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden, a member of the Rainforest Action Group – a group investigating the actions of Australian mining companies in Ecuador.
SolGold has a cluster of concessions in northern Ecuador that overlap or border on territory held by the Indigenous Awá Federation. Indigenous territories have added protections in Constitutional law to protect them from mineral and oil extraction.
The Awá community of El Tigre is on SolGold’s Chical 1 concession in Carchi, while Awá community El Baboso overlaps the border of the Blanca concession.
“The Awá Federation has consistently held a united front against mining since 2016, resolving to ban all mining on Awá lands, and demanding absolute transparency about the concessions. Despite 6% of their territory being covered with mining concessions (down from an initial 40% in 2017), they claim there has been a complete lack of consultation or information on the progress of the projects,” Ms Rebekah Hayden says.
Awa President Jairo Cantincus talking at the assembly on January 19-20
The Awá’s anti-mining stance was reiterated with a formal statement on mining at an assembly of 450 people on January 19-21, and president of the Federation of Awá Centros of Ecuador Jairo Cantincus was re-elected, a sure sign that the Federation will continue to fight against mining.
“SolGold started exploration on its Chical concession despite a lack of consultation with the community, and powerful community resistance. Exploring without their full and informed consent is against their Constitutional rights, and could be contested in court,” Ms Rebekah Hayden says.
When Roberto Taicús, president of the Awá community El Baboso went to speak to SolGold at a meeting in September 2019, they denied the community was affected by their concessions, despite maps showing it to be the case.
“On other SolGold concessions, El Cielito leaders have said that SolGold has divided its inhabitants and blocked the roads to their farms. The Santa Cecilia community in SolGold’s flagship Cascabel concession, is also under threat, with Solgold buying up land en masse, and forcing community members out,” Ms Rebekah Hayden says. [read more on this here]
Roberto Taicús was quoted by Ecuadorian journal PlanV saying community members, “have become stripped of their own territories”.
SolGold's El Chical concessions (outlined in yellow). Note overlap with Awa territory (in green), and Los Gonlondrias Protected Forest (in purple). Image Credit: Rainforest Action Group and Forest Network
“The Awá Federation has repeatedly sought information on mining projects, but Solgold only refers them to the Government, who refuses to give them any details. The Awá are currently conducting baseline water studies to determine contamination from exploration and mining,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“All this comes at a time when the homicide rate in Ecuador has soared, with InsightCrime stating it has grown by a faster rate than crime capitals such as El Salvador, Venezuela and Brazil. This is the case particularly near the border with Colombia, where criminal groups and ex-FARC rebels compete to move cocaine along Ecuador’s ‘cocaine superhighway’. This area is only 20 kms from Solgold’s Cascabel concession,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“Illegal and legal miners have inundated the region, threatening townspeople and attempting to bribe leaders. The Ecuadorian army was sent in to the area to secure the area, after miners were moved on from their illegal occupation at Gina Rinehart’s Imba2 concession in July. The Awá have already seen how illegal mining has affected Awá tribes in Colombia, polluting rivers and destabilising social groups, and they do not want to see the same thing happening to their communities in Ecuador,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“It seems unfathomable that SolGold is continuing to explore in a region so powerfully anti-mining, and against Ecuadorian law and OECD requirements that they conduct consultation with affected communities. Additionally, attempting to build a mine in a region where organised crime and homicide rates are soaring does not sound like good business practice,” Ms Rebekah Hayden says.
“With InsightCrime stating that this might be the early stages of a sustained increase to Ecuador’s murder rate, the Rainforest Action Group is concerned that SolGold’s efforts to establish a mine in the region will only amplify the unrest further,” Ms Rebekah Hayden says.
Ongoing resistance to BHP’s attempts to explore for copper and gold in its Santa Teresa 2 concession came to a head on Tuesday 14th January when police attempted to dismantle a community blockade so BHP employees could pass. A subsequent community meeting on 18th January voted for the immediate call for revocation of all mining concessions in the Intag region.
Image Credit: DECOIN. Police attempt to force communtiies to allow BHP to enter
The blockade on January 14 was the latest in a series of measures by community members to protest the company’s ongoing attempts to explore in the area.
“Community members have been dealing with increasingly aggressive tactics by BHP subsidiary Cerro Quebrado to divide the community and explore for minerals on their land for the last two years. Exploration permits for the Santa Teresa and Santa Teresa 2 concessions were granted to the company in contravention of the constitutional rights of communities to be consulted,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden, spokesperson for the Rainforest Action Group.
The Rainforest Action Group is a research, education and advocacy group that calls for corporate accountability, particularly when forests and Indigenous rights are threatened.
“Also violated were the rights of local and county governments to be consulted on activities that will have consequences for the areas under their jurisdiction. Nine communities are affected by these concessions, along with thousands of hectares of primary forest and pristine rivers,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“Locals are gravely concerned at the potential impact of exploration and mining on agriculture, forests and waterways in the region, as well as the effects on local rural and urban communities,” Ms Hayden says.
“Despite OECD requirements that BHP respect the rights of affected communities, BHP continues to contravene these with increasingly militarised tactics now that police have been engaged to force the community to back down,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
Image Credit: DECOIN. The assembly in Cazarpamba
As a result of the clash between police and community members, an assembly was held on January 18 with 320 people attending from 16 communities.
“Elected officials from the parish council governments of Apuela, Cuellaje, and Plaza Gutiérrez attended along with delegates from the Cotacachi mayor´s office and the president of Cotacachi’s Assembly for County Unity. The assembly voted unanimously to end to the presence of mining companies in Intag. They also called for government authorities to prioritise investment in agricultural, livestock and tourism activities, and take effective measures to stop mining activity in the Intag region,” says Ms Rebekah Hayden.
“The assembly warned authorities that they would take measures to eject mining companies from their territories if they continued in their attempts to divide communities and violate their Constitutional rights,” Ms Hayden says.
The communities also unanimously denounced the use of police and the military as bodyguards of mining companies, and demanded government and national entities to desist from this.
The resistance comes in the wake of an Ecuadorian Constitutional Court ruling on January 12 that communities “have the right to hold public referendums on whether or not to allow a mining project to go forward”. This ruling gives greater power to communities resisting mining in their area, and indicates that any legal case brought against BHP in the area is likely to succeed.
“The Rainforest Action Group is concerned that BHP shareholders do not know the extent to which it is contravening both OECD international guidelines for corporate practice and the Constitutional rights of communities in its attempts to explore for gold and copper in Ecuador,” Ms Hayden says.
“Despite being warned by the Rainforest Action Group at their AGM in November about the potential risks in Ecuador, BHP is continuing to conduct explorations there,’ Ms Hayden says.
Complete list of resolutions agreed on by the assembly:
1) To request the Municipality of Cotacachi to apply the current ordinances that protect water, forests and communities; including the Ordinance that declared Cotacachi an Ecological Canton; the Ordinance of the Conservation and Sustainable Use Area, Manduriaco-Intag; the Ordinance of Rivers and Riversides; and to assume its competence for the use and regulation of the soil in the whole Canton to prohibit metallic mining.
2) Request the revocation of all mining concessions in Intag for not carrying out the Environmental Consultation of the communities, a right enshrined in Article 398 of the Constitution.
3) To request local, sectional and national governments to prioritise investments in agricultural and tourism activities.
4) To request the Municipality of Cotacachi to draft and approve an ordinance declaring the Cotacachi County free of metal mining.
5) Support the community controls to prevent unwanted individuals from entering communities.
6) Create a support and rapid reaction organisation in defence of communities affected by mining.
7) Demand the government and different national entities to desist from using the public forces as bodyguards of mining companies.
8) To demand that the members of the Parish, Cantonal and Provincial governments express their opinion on metal mining within their jurisdictions.
9) Create new tools to protect water resources, and to prioritise its consumption for human use, and to prohibit it for the use of mining activities.
10) Carry out a popular consultation at the Cou9nty level, so that the people can decide if metal mining should be definitively prohibited, in all its phases, within the Cotacachi Canton.
11) Undertake education and training programs on the impacts of mining.
12) To create a Intag-wide organization to, in a more direct way, face and look for alternatives to metallic mining.
13) Warn the mining companies of the unwavering will of the citizens of the Intag area to evict the mining companies if they continue to violate their rights.
