Hanrine Ecuadorian Exploration and Mining (HEEM), a subsidiary of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has been involved in a political minefield in Ecuador for the past year.In mid December 2018, hundreds of members of the Ecuadorian Military were trucked into the town of Buenos Aires, in the northern Imbabura Province in an attempt to curtail illegal mining activities. The military and police have been active in the region over the past year.
Informal miners from HEEM concession meeting September 2018, Buenos Aires, Ecuador. Image credit: prensaminera.org
In late 2017, thousands of illegal miners descended into the region after the discovery of gold, with local reports stating up to 12,000 miners from as many as 10 countries rapidly mobilised into the area.
Much of the activity of the “informal” miners has centred around a community now known as El Triunfo (the Triumph), which is located 3km inside in a mining concession, controlled by HEEM.
The concession was granted by the Ecuadorian Government in early 2018, but local miners dispute the way the concession was processed and handled and are contesting its legality. Some are claiming that the concession process was flawed and that the concessions should have been granted to Ecuadorians, rather than an overseas Australian mining company.
There now appears to be a power struggle emerging between the miners on how to manage a situation which is increasingly becoming fraught. Negotiations between HEEM and the miners appear to be polarising mining groups against each other, only adding to the tensions.
There were two murders on the gold fields during the year, and hundreds of miners have been arrested. Prostitution and drug trafficking are becoming established in local towns. Truckloads of mining materials were also been confiscated. Other concerns regarding illegal mining can include: human trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, explosives trafficking, blackmail and influence peddling.
El Triunfo, is located only a few kilometres south of the highly anticipated Cascabel project, overseen by another Australian company - Solgold.
“In effect, any concession holders within the country could suffer outcome to that of El Triunfo,” says member of the Rainforest Action Group, Anthony Amis. “If gold is discovered by prospectors, literally thousands of desperate miners could descend on the concession in a very short amount of time. The gold rush at El Triunfo was spread electronically and through social media in a matter of weeks”.
“We are concerned how these situations will be managed by Australian companies, who control hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in mining concessions throughout Ecuador” Mr Amis said. “Many questions remain regarding how Hanrine have managed and dealt with the problems of thousands of informal miners inside their concession. Most of the informal miners are very poor and have come to the region to work, many are honest and desperate.” Mr Amis concluded.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ANTHONY AMIS on 0425 841 564
Melbourne Rainforest Action Group (MRAG) today released a report detailing the activities of BHP Billiton in South America. The report highlights the company’s poor environmental and social record in a number of locations.
Of particular concern is that BHP is now promoting itself as being environmentally responsible by promoting the use of its mining materials, particularly copper in electric cars.
“MRAG has particular concerns about BHP’s intended entry into Ecuador, a country with minimal experiences in dealing with mining companies. BHP has recently purchased a stake in exploration company Solgold who hope to develop the Cascabel mine in the north of Ecuador. The copper at Cascabel is being promoted under the guise that it will be required for electric cars, yet the bulk of world’s copper demand is predicted to go into energy infrastructure, not electric cars” said spokesperson Anthony Amis.
BHP has also been alarming people because of their exploration activities in the Intag Valley Ecuador, a region where the company has mining concessions.
MRAG has documented a litany of environmental problems caused by BHP operations across South America, including the infamous 2015 Samarco mine disaster in Brazil which killed 19 people.
Perhaps of even greater concern is BHP’s history in Colombia, particularly at its coal mine at Cerrejon and its divested Cerro Matoso nickel mine. Both operations have had devastating effects on people living the near mine sites. Horrific violence has been inflicted against community members in both regions, with 30 leaders have killed near Cerro Matoso. How has BHP managed to operate in these locations with little difficulty when armed groups operate in these regions?
The Colombian problem also now appears to be spilling over into Ecuador. A director of the Australian mining company operating on the border, Rio Dorado was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald on December 7, “well, if we have anybody enter the site what we should be doing is shooting and asking questions after the event,”
“The Colombian/Ecuadorian border is classified by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs as a Do Not Travel Zone due to the very high level of risk, yet the Cascabel mine site is only 10km away from this zone, and anything transported from the mine will have to travel 30-40km through the no go zone. Why would you want to build a mine in or near this region, unless you were sure that you could pay for protection your asset” Mr Amis concluded.
Samarco dam collapse, Brazil. Image Credit: Getty Images
News reports on the 5th of September that mining company BHP has purchased a 6.1% stake in exploration company Solgold for $35m have raised concerns that another mining disaster in northern Ecuador could be possible if Solgold’s Cascabel gold/copper mine is eventually constructed. Environmentalists fear that a repeat of the BHP’s /Samarco tailings dam collapse in November 2015 (Brazils worst environmental disaster) could be repeated in Ecuador. BHP appears to be in a tussle with Australian miner Newcrest over eventual control of Cascabel.
“Ecuador is a known earthquake hotspot, with Cascabel just west of a cluster of known quakes on the western side of the Andes. In the rush to get a mine and tailings dam built, shortcuts could be taken?” said MRAG spokesperson Anthony Amis. “If a tailings dam is not constructed, tailings could be dumped directly into rivers or even piped into the ocean, a practice which is used in another geologically unstable region, Papua New Guinea where both Newcrest and BHP are involved.”
Even in supposedly developed countries such as Australia, tailings dam walls can fail. Newcrest’s Cadia Mine in New South Wales was shut down 3 months in 2017 due to an earthquake and the tailings dam wall at Cadia failed in March 2018. Earthquakes recorded near Cascabel exploration area average higher magnitudes that than those recorded at Cadia. Potential pollution from any problems at Cascabel will mainly impact on the Rio Mira river which stretches through Ecuador and into Colombia. Colombians have already feeling the full brunt of BHP’s activities with communites near Cerro Matoso ferronickel mine suffering health problems for many years. Another potential issue is that Solgold will have to consult with impacted communities, which is required by the Ecuadorian constitution. In June 2018, an Ecuadorean Court shut down mining by a Chinese company Junefield/Ecuagoldmining South America for failure to consult with communities.
Solgold have a history of discovering resources which later were sold off to leave others to deal with environmental consequences. Coal seam gas in Surat Basin Queensland and the opening up of coal mining in the Queensland’s Galilee Basin are two examples.
MRAG also have concerns regarding Newcrest’s involvement in the Fruta del Norte gold mine in the south east of Ecuador, located near the border with Peru.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ANTHONY AMIS on 0425 841 564
The destructive push into Ecuador's rainforests and indigenous communities by several Australian mining giants, with the full support of Austrade, was questioned in the Senate Estimates Committee on Friday. BHP, SolGold, Fortescue, and Newcrest own more hectares of exploratory mining concessions in Ecuador than any other country. Many of these concessions overlap protected forests and indigenous territories, in breach of Ecuador's constitution and environmental laws.
Senator Lee Rhiannon questions AUSTRADE on Australian companies mining protected forest reserves and indigenous reserves in Ecuador.
Senator Lee Rhiannon questioned Austrade about its role in promoting Australian mining interests in Ecuador, and whether it even considers environmental protection measures when facilitating the eight-fold increase in mining expected over the next three years. She also queried whether Austrade was underplaying the sovereign risks of operating in Ecuador's politically and culturally sensitive environment.
The risks of operating in Ecuador grew dramatically on Friday, following a court order to suspend the mining operations of Ecugoldmining's controversial Rio Blanco copper mine. Judge Serrano also ordered the “demilitarisation” of the area around the mine, which is currently being guarded by around 150 police and military personnel following heated protests at the mine earlier this month. The city of Cuenca joined the indigenous organisation Ecuarunari in calling for the suspension, in order to assess the damage to water sources caused by the mine.
The senator also highlighted how Austrade could be undoing the conservation efforts of AusAID and the Rainforest Information Centre, which helped establish the incredibly biodiverse Los Cedros Biological reserve several decades ago. Los Cedros is one of 43 Protected Forests and wilderness areas in Ecuador now threatened by mining concessions.“Ecuador has the world's highest biodiversity of vertebrate species and endemic plants, despite being a tiny fraction of the world's land area” said Melbourne Rainforest Action Group (MRAG) Convenor, David Ni Castro.
He went on to note that “the threat of extinction for much of this biodiversity has dramatically increased since April 2016, with the Ecuadorian government opening approximately 2.9 million hectares of land for mining exploration, covering around 14% of the country. The numbers are approximate because the government does not frequently update its website, but we know that concessions have continued to be granted in 2018 too.” “Most of the mining concessions are located in the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot, the most critically endangered and biodiverse of the 36 ‘hotspots’ worldwide, and home to hundreds of threatened species of mammals, birds, amphibians and plants,” he said. He explains that “around 95% of these mega-diverse forests have already been lost in the north west of Ecuador. To mine the last remaining fragments is simply unacceptable. No company can claim to have a social license to push roads into, and mine, such rare and endangered rainforests”.
He notes that “the mining concessions were made illegally without the knowledge or approval of the people living on these lands, and they cover critical headwater ecosystemsand indigenous territories. They also threaten over a third of Ecuador’s protected forest reserves (Bosques Protectores)” explained MRAG convenor, David Ni Castro.
“As of January 2018, 735,597ha of protected forests in Ecuador are under exploratory mining concessions, or more than 30% of the total land area protected by such reserves” said David Ni Castro. He also noted that “among the largest landholding Indigenous groups, approximately 995,426ha are within mining concessions, or approximately 14% of Indigenous lands in Ecuador. Some groups, like the Awa are more highly affected, with nearly 70% of Awá lands and 50% of Shaur territories affected by mining concessions (or over 860,000 ha of Shaur Amazonian rainforests).”
“The concession process has also been plagued by corruption, ongoing human rights abuses including criminalisation and silencing of dissent, and forced displacement of people whose homelands are jeopardised by mining projects. Corruption has occurred at the highest levels, with even the former Vice President Jorge Glas jailed for six years in December 2017 on corruption related charges,” said David Ni Castro.
"The mining concessions were made illegally without the knowledge or approval of the people living on these lands, and they cover critical headwater ecosystemsand indigenous territories. They also threaten over a third of Ecuador’s protected forest reserves (Bosques Protectores),” explained MRAG convenor, David Ni Castro.
“As of January 2018, 735,597ha of protected forests in Ecuador are under exploratory mining concessions, or more than 30% of the total land area protected by such reserves” said David Ni Castro. He also noted that “among the largest landholding Indigenous groups, approximately 995,426ha are within mining concessions, or approximately 14% of Indigenous lands in Ecuador. Some groups, like the Awa are more highly affected, with nearly 70% of Awá lands and 50% of Shaur territories affected by mining concessions (or over 860,000 ha of Shaur Amazonian rainforests)”.
“The concession process has also been plagued by corruption, ongoing human rights abuses including criminalisation and silencing of dissent, and forced displacement of people whose homelands are jeopardised by mining projects. Corruption has occurred at the highest levels, with even the former Vice President Jorge Glas jailed for six years in December 2017 on corruption related charges,” said David Ni Castro.
“The corruption occurred while he was Coordinating Director for the office of Strategic Sectors. His office was also responsible for promoting and negotiating new mining concessions. Despite his jailing, hundreds of mining concession contracts which his office oversaw, including those with Australian mining companies, are yet to be rescinded,” he said.
“At a referendum in February 2018, 67% of Ecuadorians voted overwhelmingly to roll back mining, particularly in forested areas. Despite this, mining concessions continue to be handed out,” explains David Ni Castro.
Melbourne Rainforest Action Group (MRAG) today released a 
