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Win for Los Cedros Reserve could impact mining concessions across Ecuador

Los Cedros Reserve to be protected from mining after comprehensive Ecuador Constitutional Court ruling on Rights of Nature and the environment

Los Cedros river. Image credit Rafael Cardenas

In a significant ruling on December 1, the Ecuador Constitutional Court revoked the water and environmental rights of Cornerstone Capital Resources and the Ecuador state mining company (ENAMI) for the Rio Magdalena concessions that cover most of the internationally renowned Los Cedros Reserve.

The ruling sets an important precedent for Ecuador, which was the first country in the world to enshrine the rights of nature in its rewritten constitution in 2008.

“The Court stated that the companies had been responsible for a number of constitutional violations. These included violating the rights of nature, the rights of nearby communities to clean water and environment and the rights of communities to consultation over the mining projects. In addition, the Court ruled that the companies failed to acquire adequate environmental and water permissions pertaining to the extraordinary diversity and vulnerability of the region,” says Liz Downes from the Rainforest Action Group, an advocacy and research group investigating the actions of Australian mining companies in Ecuador.

The Court also ordered the government to adopt regulations so that future environmental licenses and water licenses for mining and other extractive industries do not risk violating the Rights of Nature.

“This order could become a precedent to protect significant water sources and other Protected Forests. There are 2.4 million hectares of Protected Forest in Ecuador currently at risk due to large scale mining,” says Liz Downes.

Brown-headed spider monkey at Los Cedros Reserve. Image credit Mike Peck

“Mining activities – even at early exploration stage – in the high-altitude cloud forests and grassland regions of the Ecuadorian Andes risk contaminating and depleting the water sources of local communities and the farms they depend on, as well as risking the extinction of thousands of endemic and endangered species. Across Ecuador, communities on the frontline say they have never been consulted about mining, and this ruling potentially gives weight to their argument, ” says Liz Downes.

Around 30% of mining concessions in Ecuador granted by the government since 2017 – just over 700,000 hectares – are owned by Australian companies, who are exploring for copper and other base metals. Mining companies potentially impacted by the ruling include SolGold, who are developing 13 priority projects nearly all of which cover protected areas.

Hanrine (Hancock Prospecting) and BHP each have several concessions in the region around Los Cedros in north-western Ecuador, which almost without exception overlap the buffer zones of mega-biodiverse and threatened forests like Los Cedros and Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park. Communities in this area have strongly resisted mining for decades.

Cornerstone Capital Resources, in a press release, says it has made a submission to the Constitutional Court requesting further details about the impact of the ruling on its activities.

“It is unclear as yet as to how the ruling will be enforced in terms of legislation. But this is set as a precedent case with no legal appeal possible,” says Liz Downes.

A plan to manage and care for Los Cedros Reserve will be established jointly with the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, residents of the neighbouring communities, local and state councils, as well as researchers, scientists and academics who have conducted studies in the Protected Forest. In accordance with the ruling, this process is to be overseen by the Ombudsman's Office.

FULL RELEASE HERE

Llurimagua case looks set to be lost by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment

Llurimagua case for endemic species looks set to be lost by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment in significant blow to plans for mining in the area

A case for protecting endemic species at the planned Llurimagua mine site had another win last week when Carmen Jaramillo Cevallos, Judge of the Multicompetent Judicial Unit of the Cotacachi canton, issued her full judgment on the case.

Contamination from exploration. Image credit: Carlos Zorrilla

The Constitutional Injunction was brought against the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and the State Attorney General in August out of concerns that the rights of nature enshrined in Articles 71 and 73 of Ecuador’s Constitution of the Republic would be seriously impacted by mining activities within the Llurimagua concession in north-western Ecuador’s biodiverse cloud forests.

In a preliminary ruling released on September 24, the judge had ruled that the Ministry of the Environment had failed to protect endemic and critically endangered species on the Llurimagua mining concession, and gave the Ministry of the Environment 90 days to solve omissions and irregularities detailed by the Nation's Comptroller General in its March 2019 report.

If these are not remedied in the timeframe, environmental licenses on the concession will be revoked. Additionally, the court decreed that the process must be overseen and validated by the Municipal government, a University and the Public Defender's Office (Ombudsman).

“The measures [that must be complied with] include things that will be technically impossible to remedy, given that one of the most important irregularities was that the Ministry of the Environment approved the environmental license in 2014 without proper or sufficient baseline information – including not having a valid information from a meteorological station,” says Carlos Zorrilla, a founder of DECOIN and one of the petitioners in the case.

“They may install a meteorological station in the area now, but it takes years of data collecting to validate the information. It will be technically impossible for them to comply – especially with the civil society oversight,” Carlos Zorrilla says.

BHP and Gina Rinehart’s Ecuador subsidiary Hanrine have both been slated as likely buyers of the government-owned mining company’s share in the Llurimagua concession. The difficulty of meeting the measures in the required time will almost certainly mean the environmental permits for Llurimagua will be revoked, and makes any mining plans for the area increasingly unlikely.

The full ruling released on October 22 states that Nature has intrinsic rights that are completely independent to human or civil rights; that these rights were violated when the State did not control mining activities in the Llurimagua concessions; that the Ministry did not take into account adequate protection for species in danger of extinction; and that the judicial protection was also violated.

“The judgement states that while the destruction of a few trees or a couple of the last remaining frogs of a certain species may not be significant from the public interest perspective, it is certainly significant to those specific species,” Carlos Zorrilla says.

The ruling would also pave the way for other similar cases to halt mining activities in areas where endemic species are found. Ecuador’s high rate of endemism means this could apply to most of the country.

Australian mining companies BHP, Newcrest, SolGold, Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting, who all have subsidiaries in Ecuador, had hoped to take advantage of a pro-mining government eager for international investment, despite an overwhelming majority of Ecuadorians who do not want mining to take place in forested areas, on indigenous territory or near urban areas.

Another Rights of Nature case was heard at the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court on October 19 arguing that the country’s system of legally ‘Protected Forests’ should receive increased protection from mining based on the threats to fragile ecosystems and endangered species.

Again, a key argument in this case is that nature has intrinsic and inviolable rights, which Ecuador’s Constitution is unique in enshrining. A positive ruling would not only protect Reserva Los Cedros from mining, but could provide a precedent to safeguard all 186 Protected Forests in Ecuador, totalling some 2.4 million hectares (6 million acres).

Mining concessions currently cover over 800,000 hectares of Protected Forests in Ecuador, with Australian and Canadian mining companies holding the largest share.

“These Ecuador cases have implications internationally, with many several Indigenous and community groups in Australia currently looking to explore legislation to give rights or legal personhood to, and protect, the intrinsic value of rivers, waterways and other natural features,” says Liz Downes, a member of Rainforest Action Group, an advocacy and research organisation.

“Legislation based on legal personhood principles gave additional protection to Yarra River (Birrarung) in Victoria in 2017, by empowering its Wurundjeri Traditional Owners. Other rights of nature cases being explored include the Great Barrier Reef, the Fitzroy River and the Murray-Darling river system,” says Liz Downes.

Full media release here.

Constitutional Court could save Australian Government funded Reserve in Ecuador from mining

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
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.

Full media release here.

Investor risk alert for Cascabel

Cascabel is an investor nightmare. Located in close proximity to the Colombian/Ecuadorian border, in an area the Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) advises not to travel

SOLGOLD CASCABEL CONCESSION

“This border is out of control. Its inhabitants are left to their fate.”

Colonel Mario Pazmiño, the country’s former director of military intelligence.
The Guardian, 24 October 2018

The location of SolGold’s Cascabel concession is an investor's nightmare. Cascabel is located in close proximity to the Colombian/Ecuadorian border, an area where Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) advises DO NOT TRAVEL. “We advise against all travel here due to the very high risk. If you do travel, you should typically seek professional security advice. Be aware that regular travel insurance policies will be void and that the Australian Government is unlikely to be able to provide consular assistance.”

Around 26% of SolGold is owned by BHP and Newcrest Mining. SolGold have never built a mine and do not have the capacity to raise the billions of dollars to build a mine at Cascabel, so will most likely sell the concession. The buyers then will inherit all the risks associated with building and operating the mine. SolGold will effectively wash their hands of the operation.

SolGold are anticipating that the Alpala mine in the Cascabel concession will be active for 50-60 years. It will also produce copper, gold and silver from 2.4 billion tonnes of ore. It is the opinion of MRAG that not only will the mine be built in a politically unstable and dangerous region, but infrastructure required for the mine, could come under attack or even sabotage, as could the mine itself.

In their 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), SolGold suggested that mining material will be transported, via pipeline, 60 km north west towards San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo is a known organised crime hot spot, located near where 3 journalists were murdered in April 2018. The murders shocked Ecuador. The police station at San Lorenzo was also car bombed (the first car bombing in Ecuador) in January 2018 by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents. As a result, the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, declared a limited State of Emergency in the cities of San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro to enhance police and military authority.

In August 2019 when the FARC guerrillas announced that the 2016 peace deal had failed and that the re-established armed revolution in Colombia. The Ecuadorian press reported widespread concern in Ecuador regarding the potential impact that the FARC could have in the north of the country. “Return to the FARC weapons causes alarm in Carchi…Tobar Donoso is one of the areas disputed by the FARC, because, according to residents, it is a corridor used by Mexican drug cartels and the front of the disappeared alias Guacho.”

Tobar Donoso is located 50km north-west of Cascabel.

From San Lorenzo, the pipeline will then continue 100km south west to the port of Esmeraldas. San Lorenzo has also been a hot bed of illegal mining activity for many years. Gold mining is now seen as being as lucrative as coca growing by organised crime syndicates in Colombia, with Ecuadorian paper El Comercio saying: “…But military information warns that Colombian criminal groups, linked to FARC dissidents or drug traffickers, are also behind the illegal mining that is registered in the two cantons, due to their proximity to the Nariño department."

Another active group in the region is Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN). Reports suggested in early 2019 that the ELN was targeting border areas inside Ecuador including “facilities and units in the municipalities of Mira in the province of Carchi and San Lorenzo in Esmeraldas as potential targets”.

Both the FARC and ELN have targeted energy infrastructure inside Colombia over the years. Up to April 2019 there have been around 20 attacks on Colombian pipelines in 2019. The 485-mile (780-km) Cano Limon pipeline was kept offline for most of 2018 because of more than 80 bombings. An attack in April 2019 occurred in the Province of Narino, just north of the Ecuadorian border. Narino is also a hotspot for illegal mines and coca growing where the ELN and another criminal group, the Urabeños have made millions of dollars in recent years. Reports suggest that the gold sourced from illegal mining from Narino is transported into Ecuador.

SolGold also state in the PEA that workers at Alpala will most likely be bussed in each day from Ibarra. This probably means that the Alpala mine site itself will have few people staying at the mine overnight, except security staff. Given the precarious location of the mine, it is apparent that the mine itself (and pipeline) could be a target for groups wanting to cause problems such as armed robbery. The mine will most likely be a magnet for many people throughout the region. Power for the mine is also suggested to partially come from Colombia.

The Cascabel mining site at Alpala is ~10km from the DO NOT TRAVEL zone, with entry into the proposed mining through Roca Fuerte almost located on the boundary of the DO NOT TRAVEL zone.  Illegal mining in close proximity to the Cascabel concession has occurred at El Cielito (approx. 5-10km north of Cascabel) between 2017 and 2019. SolGold has apparently employed the services of security firm G4S to look after its Cascabel security.

Military police entering Gina Rinehart's concession in Ecuador.

The largest illegal mining operation in Ecuador in almost 30 years, occurred north of the village of Buenos Aires, on a mining concession called Imba 2, owned by Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart between November 2017 and July 2019. The main illegal mining area, at a place called El Triunfo, was located only 10km south of Alpala. At this location over 10,000 illegal miners operated. They miners were eventually evicted after the Moreno Government sent in 2000 troops and hundreds of police officers.

The mining operations inside Imba 2 were rife with organised crime and mafia influence. A number of brutal murders occurred near the mines. Drug trafficking, prostitution and other criminal acts undermined the security of the existing township of Buenos Aires, with organised criminals from Colombia and Venezuela being pinpointed as key organisers. In August 2018 12 hooded men stole 18 cubic metres of confiscated gold material that had been stored by the local police. Police officer and mining officials have also been implicated in corruption as have officials in the judicial system.

An illegal transport network was established which allowed for the transportation and storing of rock from the mine sites. Between $50,000 and $150,000 was required by truck drivers to “oil the road” and pay bribes on the way of moving illegally sourced materials to processing sites in the south of the country. Destinations of the illegally mined rock included: Azuay, El Oro, Camilo Ponce Enriquez, Zaruma and Portovelo. After processing, the gold was then illegally transported out of the country. It is clear then, that an organised crime syndicate associated with gold mining is operating inside Ecuador, with gold also being funneled in from Colombia. Developers of Alpala mine will have to build their mine on shaky grounds indeed. The following summary by Open Democracy accurately describes the powder keg.

“Under different names … the actors operating on the Ecuador- Colombia border remain the same:

  1. Paramilitary groups which continue to defend the interests of drug traffickers and landowners, even though the AUC no longer exists.
  2. Dissident groups of the FARC now turned criminal and related to drug trafficking.
  3. Colombian drug traffickers allied with Mexican cartels.
  4. The armed forces (the army and the police) of Ecuador and Colombia.
  5. State presence of both nations.

There is also a new actor: the illegal miners who operate in Imbabura, Carchi, Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos, who generate problems for the local populations.”

Australian mining companies complicit in unrest

The Rainforest Action Group is deeply concerned about the implications of the State of Emergency declared by Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno on October 3rd. The action gives police and military the power to use extreme force to repress the widespread mobilisation of the populace occurring throughout Ecuador after the implementation of austerity measures known as the “paquetazo” (package) on October 1.

Alicia Cahuiya, leader of the Waorani women's organisation (AMWAE) standing beside the crowd in the central square of Quito

The US $20 billion fiscal reform package includes axing fuel subsidies – a move that saw diesel prices rise from US$1.03 to $2.30 per gallon, and petrol rise to US$2.39 from $1.85. Public service wages were cut by 20 per cent, and workplace security and job security safeguards removed. Thousands of public-sector employees were also dismissed and education and healthcare spending slashed. The resulting protests have seen hundreds injured and at least one dead, with police shooting unarmed protesters and the government leaving the capital over safety concerns. Hundreds of people have also been arrested.

“The reforms by the Ecuadorian government are part of IMF 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. Austerity measures in a country where the level of structural poverty sits at 25.5% and extreme poverty levels of 9.5% is unfathomable. Given the isolated terrain of much of Ecuador, the fuel price rises will see the poorest Ecuadorians and small-scale farmers hit the worst,” says Rebekah Hayden.

“The move directly implicates Australian mining companies in the repression of the populace, who overwhelmingly voted last year against mining in Indigenous territories and protected forests in the Amazon and Andes. Despite this, the government continues to move ahead with plans to increase mining concessions, axing taxes so that mining companies can operate with lower overheads, and providing armed forces to ensure the security on the sites of these proposed mines. The IMF loan was provisioned on foreign investment, particularly the strategic mining projects such as SolGold’s proposed Cascabel mine which acts as collateral for the loans.” Ms Hayden added.

Australian mining companies are leading investment in Ecuador, holding almost 30% of mining concessions across the country, totalling 536,101 hectares in early 2019.

“Australian mining companies like to promote mining as an opportunity to provide jobs and increase local wealth, however these austerity measures by the government indicate that local communities will be far worse off after foreign investment than they were before,” Rebekah stated.

Protesters occupying Ecuador's National Assembly. Click for video.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador (Conaie) released a statement in mid 2018 denouncing the Government’s selling of around 2 million hectares of Indigenous territories and protected forests to mining companies, and declaring a unilateral stance against all industrial foreign investment projects, including mining, oil and hydroelectricity, in indigenous lands. Last week, in response to the release of the austerity package, indigenous people apprehended and detained around 50 police and military personnel trying to enter communities in the Andean provinces of Chimborazo and Imbabura. To date, many of those held have not been released. In a statement on 3rd October, Conaie declared: “Military and police who approach indigenous territories will be detained and subjected to indigenous justice.’

Meanwhile, also on 3rd October, protestors burned down a mining camp at Río Blanco in the province of Azuay. Río Blanco, owned by Chinese company Ecuagoldmining, has been for several years a social and political flashpoint. Sustained community resistance against the gold mine resulted in a legal case which in June 2018 forced the project to shut down. However, as part of his swathe of new enforcements following the signing of the IMF deal, President Moreno promised to do whatever it took to re-open Río Blanco.

In recent months there have been a number of other declarations released by communities denouncing moves to mine their land. They say they were not consulted about plans to mine. An assembly in the province of Intag on August 20th was attended by 1500 people, who released a statement giving mining companies, including BHP (five concessions in the area) and Gina Rinehart’s Hanrine, two months to withdraw from their communities.

On August 23rd, the Shuar Arutam Indigenous People’s government declared itself free of mining, demanding the exit of mining companies which include Australian companies SolGold, Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group, Newcrest (who part-owns the flagship gold mining project Fruta del Norte) and BHP. More than 50% of Shuar territory is covered with mining concessions, and nearly 100% is concessioned to oil companies. At this moment, Shuar Arutam demonstrators are being harshly treated by the military, being gassed, shot at and beaten.

“Australian companies are naively pushing ahead with mining in communities that do not want them to operate on their land, in an environment that is increasingly fraught, and at a time when global concerns about climate change require deeper scrutiny of any new mines – particularly in such vital forests as the Amazon. Any mining in Ecuador can only go ahead with increasing force against the populace – making Australian companies directly responsible for any fatalities that result.” Ms Hayden concluded.

As this is being written, Ecuador is in lockdown due to a nationwide strike and escalating unrest. Citing security fears, the government has temporarily moved from the capital, Quito, to Guayaquil.

Contacts and full media release here.

Environmental concerns at Cascabel

ENSA CEO Jason Ward. Image credit- El Norte

The Cascabel concession is part of the Mira River basin, and is surrounded by mature primary and secondary forests that house endangered species, and protect pristine microbasins. Our primary concerns with mining in Cascabel hinge on the ecosystem impacts of the mine itself and related infrastructure, as well as the toxic waste generated by mining activities.

SolGold itself says says that it will extract 2.4 billion tonnes of ore from the mine. Based on that figure, MRAG estimates the tailings generated by this mine would amount to at least 1km3 (1,000,000,000 m3). To put these figures in perspective, the capacity of Laguna Quilotoa is 0.35km3, making a conservative estimate of tailings produced enough to fill Laguna Quilotoa three times over.

This is a phenomenal amount of toxic waste to dispose of that no amount of “green talk” by Mr Ward can hide away.

Copper spill. Image credit: The Conversation

Tailings vary but may contain or produce cyanide, radiation, alkalinity (high pH) or acidity (low pH), arsenic, high salinity in pore water (pore water is in the spaces between particles of sand, rock or tailings). They can also produce sulphides which creates acid that dissolves any heavy metals in the tailings, like mercury, lead or arsenic into a liquid can be washed away into rivers or streams. Toxic gases may be released due to chemicals within the tailings. Some tailings remain highly contaminated for at least 1000 years. Some facilities may need a longer time to be considered safe.

In their preliminary reports, SolGold states that decisions regarding the management of tailings are still in preparation. Can Jason Ward guarantee that the mined rocks do not contain pyrites or monosulphides, and can he guarantee that SolGold/ENSA will maintain tailings dams in the Cascabel concession for hundreds of years to ensure the toxicity of this waste is safely contained?

Given that the mine is in an area of high rainfall and earthquake risk, can Mr Ward guarantee that the structure of tailings dams built on the Cascabel concession will be sound and will not be vulnerable to earthquakes, overflow from heavy rain or increased waste volumes, as occurred with the Vale/BHP disaster in Bento Rodrigues in November 2015, or that of Brumadihno, where 300 Brazilians died when the tailings pool collapsed in January 2019? We understand that SolGold has a limited experience in the construction of mines - to date it has not built a single mine.  The approval of a record-height tailings dam at Mirador leaves us highly concerned that similar foolhardy constructions will be approved at Cascabel.

Bridge over Rio Mira. Image credit- Andreas Kay

Given the entire Cascabel concession is part of the catchment for the Mira River which then runs through Colombia, contaminants that put this river system at risk could cause an international incident. Additionally, it is probable that contaminants would affect the thousands of users who live downstream of the mine, including municipalities that depend on the river to provide drinking water to their  citizens, farmers, ranchers, aquaculturists, among others. Will all downstream communities and users who rely on the Mira River be consulted and compensated in the event of a disaster?

If tailings dams are not built, the other recourse for waste disposal is to dump mine waste into waterways. This is the case at the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea where 80 million tons of contaminated tailings and materials from mine-related erosion are dumped each year into the Ok Tedi river system after the tailings dam collapsed in 1984. Established by Australian mining company BHP Billiton, the terrain of the Ok Tedi mine is similar to that of Cascabel.

The river is now effectively unable to sustain life, affecting the lives of 50,000 people who relied on the river for fishing and drinking water. They have experienced numerous health issues, including high rates of cancer and birth defects. More than 1,588 square kilometres of forest died as a result of the disaster. Given Solgold's limited experience with mining in places with such high rainfall, can Mr. Ward ensure that this will not happen in Cascabel?

Can the Ecuadorian state even guarantee that it will have the economic resources and human capital – and political will – to regulate and control the mining of this magnitude, in view of the numerous and proven irregularities reported by the Comptroller General of the State in this same project, as in the case of the Llurimagua mining project?

Our organisation is concerned that Alpala – ENSA/SolGold’s main area of interest – will not be the only mine constructed in the Cascabel concession. From SolGold’s reports, we are given to understand that there are several other ore bodies that ENSA/SolGold are exploring within the concession. Is Mr Ward able to disclose if this is the case, and if these ore bodies will be block cave mined individually, or absorbed into one large supermine several kilometres in size?

SolGold touts block cave mining as a more environmentally friendly option. However, it could be argued that block caving is virtually no different from an open cut mine as the mine falls in on itself after resources are extracted. Block sinking mines are also notoriously complex to build.

As Australians, we can see the incredible beauty of Ecuador’s natural resources, and we feel ashamed that Australian mining companies are exploiting local people’s needs for jobs, health and education, in an exchange that will leave Ecuadorians dealing with the environmental consequences of mining for hundreds of years to come.

El Norte published our concerns in an article here.