Tag: solgold

SolGold Cascabel mine impacts worse than thought previously

New research shows vast impact of Solgold's proposed Cascabel mine in Ecuador

Yemanyá Corporation research shows Cascabel mine will cause more environmental impact than all other Latin American mines

Esmeraldas, July 16, 2025 The Yemanyá Corporation – Water and Conservation, in its commitment to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources in the province of Esmeraldas, presents the
following statement:

The 200 km long Cascabel mine's mineral pipeline would affect 18 parishes in northern Esmeraldas and threaten the protected mangrove area of the Esmeraldas River.
The Australian company SolGold proposes the construction of a 200 km mineral pipeline that will transport the extracted ore from the Cascabel mine to the port of Esmeraldas. This would be a pipeline similar to an oil pipeline, transporting minerals in the form of a slurry, obtained by mixing mineral powder from the mine with water in a 60% to 40% ratio, thus creating an enormous demand for water. This infrastructure would have a high risk of failures and ruptures, causing the slurry to spill outside the pipeline. This mineral concentrate contains copper and other heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, and would pose a threat to the environment and human health.

Cascabel and proposed pipeline

The mineral pipeline would follow the route of the old railway line between Ibarra and San Lorenzo, continuing parallel to the highway that connects San Lorenzo with Esmeraldas. The mineral pipeline would cross 22 parishes in the provinces of Imbabura, Carchi, and Esmeraldas and would require a permanent right-of-way between 20 and 60 m wide for maintenance work. Landowners and communities would have to sell or cede the land to SolGold for the construction of this infrastructure.

The mineral pipeline would cross over the Rioverde, Cayapas, and Santiago rivers, but also over smaller ones such as the Lagarto, Ostiones, Mate, Colope rivers, and other watercourses that join the Pacific Ocean following a North-South direction. From its starting point at the Cascabel mine until it approaches the road leading to Esmeraldas, it would also affect almost fifty small estuaries and the Cachaví, Bogotá, and Zaspi rivers. The pipeline's route would generate a high risk of contamination of the water resources and transitional and coastal waters throughout northern Esmeraldas. Due to the topography of the 30 km coastline between Rioverde and Esmeraldas, the mineral pipeline must be routed through or near populated areas and close to the sea. In this area, social conflicts would arise over land rights needed for infrastructure construction, and slurry spills would be very difficult to control before they contaminate coastal waters.

Finally, the mineral pipeline would have to cross the Esmeraldas River to reach the port. The mineral pipeline could cross the river by following the bridge and highway connecting Tachina to Esmeraldas, but it would have to traverse the Esmeraldas River Mangrove Wildlife Refuge all the way to the port to bypass residential areas. Alternatively, the mineral pipeline could cross the river at a point between Las Piedras and the Coronel Carlos Concha Torres airport runway and reach the port via an elevated viaduct, but this solution would have a significant visual impact at the mouth of the Esmeraldas River. Either option would pose a high risk of direct spills into the mangroves and transitional waters of the Esmeraldas River in the event of slurry leaks.

Esmeraldas, January 2, 2025 The Yemanyá Corporation – Water and Conservation, in its commitment to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources in the province of Esmeraldas, presents the
following statement:
The Cascabel mine will affect the ancestral territories of the Awa people and two protected mangrove areas in the Chocó region.
The Cascabel mine, Ecuador's largest mining project, is located in the Mira River basin in northern Ecuador. The mining company SolGold has signed a contract with the Ecuadorian government to operate Cascabel. The Cascabel concession will generate over 600 million tons of waste (tailings), which will primarily be discharged into two tailings ponds in the Santiago River basin. Additionally, two tailings ponds will be built in the Mira River basin for the initial phases of Cascabel's development. The tailings deposited in these ponds can produce acidic leachates and contain copper, heavy metals, and binding chemicals used in mineral processing. SolGold also proposes using cyanide to recover gold from these tailings.

Impact of Cascabel on mangroves and Awa territory

The tailings will drain contaminated water that will affect the Cachabí and Bogotá rivers, the entire lower Santiago River and its mouth, as well as the Cachaco and Parambas rivers, the Mira River, and all the channels that make up its mouth between Cabo Manglares and the city of Tumaco in an area of more than 400 km². In total, over 500 km of river channels (191 km in Ecuador and 413 km in Colombia) will be affected by Cascabel's tailings. The Santiago and Mira rivers have rich aquatic biodiversity, with over 62 freshwater fish species, five of which are endemic, and three are classified as vulnerable or threatened.

Cascabel's activities and tailings will impact ecological reserves and ancestral territories and communities in Ecuador and Colombia. They will affect the Awá Bioanthropological Reserve and the La Turbia Indigenous Reserve, which form part of the ancestral Awá territory on both sides of the border between Ecuador and Colombia with nearly 2000 km² protected. In total, 100 km of river channels within the two reserves will be affected: 23 km of the Bogotá River, 12 km of the Cachabí River at the reserve's border, and 64 km of the Mira River. It will also affect the Manglares Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve at the mouth of the Santiago-Cayapas River, spanning 564 km², where 13 ancestral Black communities have custody agreements for the sustainable exploitation of mangrove resources, mainly shellfish and crab, which, along with fishing, are their main economic resources. At the mouth of the Mira River in Colombia, it will affect the Cabo Manglares, Bajo Mira y Frontera National Park, spanning 1902 km². This is an emblematic natural site because Cabo Manglares is the westernmost point of Colombia and an important nesting area for sea turtles. Even though these protected areas are far from Cascabel, they will be the ultimate recipients of the sediments transported by the rivers from the mine's tailings ponds, because mangroves retain large quantities of sediments. Mangroves act as nurseries for commercially important marine fish, are important carbon sinks, and harbor characteristic species that depend on the diverse aquatic food web. These ecosystem services will decrease or disappear when contaminated sediments from Cascabel begin to deposit in the mangroves.

The Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, at 2600 km², is the largest forest reserve in the Ecuadorian Chocó in the upper Santiago-Cayapas River basin. The northern boundary of this reserve is only 6 km from the Awá Bioanthropological Reserve. The development of infrastructure and two tailings ponds in the upper Cachabí River will act as a physical barrier to the movement of wildlife between both reserves. Iconic species like the jaguar and tapir will have reduced possibilities for dispersal and survival. This will lead to the isolation of the two large protected areas of the Chocó, accentuating the already existing fragmentation in Ecuador's protected area system,
which is already critical in the coastal region.

The Cascabel mine will generate the largest environmental impact from mining development in recent Latin American history, affecting the last protected areas of the Chocó coastal region in Esmeraldas (Ecuador) and Nariño (Colombia). The mangroves located between the mouths of the Santiago-Cayapas and Mira rivers will receive contaminated sediments discharged by the Cascabel mine's tailings ponds. More than 80 km of coastline and the associated marine-coastal region, which boasts great biodiversity and high ecological value, will disappear due to the operation of the Cascabel mine.

Esmeraldas, November 17, 2024. The Yemanyá Corporation – Water and Conservation, in its commitment to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources in the province of Esmeraldas, presents the
following statement:
The Mira River basin is a binational heritage shared between Colombia and Ecuador, but the Cascabel mine will only benefit Ecuador.
The Cascabel mine, Ecuador's largest mining project, is located in the Mira River basin, in northern Ecuador. The mining company SolGold has just signed a contract with the Ecuadorian government to exploit Cascabel and estimates a market value of 5.4 billion dollars for the minerals extracted during the mine's first 28 years of operation. The Cascabel concession will generate over 600 million tons of waste, which will primarily be discharged into the Santiago River basin, 40 km away from the mining concession. Additionally, two tailings ponds will be built in the Mira River basin, on the Cachaco and Parambas rivers, both with a capacity to store 60 million tons of tailings that will be used in the initial phases of Cascabel's development. The tailings can produce acidic leachates and contain copper, heavy metals, and binding chemicals used in mineral processing.

Cascabel will wreak environmental disaster on Colombia

SolGold has also tested the use of cyanide to recover gold from the tailings. These tailings ponds will drain contaminated water into the Cachaco and Parambas rivers, tributaries of the Mira River. Affected areas include the parishes of Lita and Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño near the ponds, Guadual, and the Mira River downstream from its confluence with the Parambas River. The discharges will also affect Achotal, Vuelta Candelillas, Imbili, Cajapí del Mira, and the entire course of the Mira River in Colombia. Finally, they will disperse at the mouth of the Mira River, affecting Milagros and the Cabo Manglares, Bajo Mira y Frontera National Park. The mouth of the Mira River is characterized by a complex network of smaller channels, and the discharges will spread over an area of 400 km², reaching the city of Tumaco. Mine tailings leachates contaminate surface and groundwater, preventing their use for domestic supply and bathing in the river. Heavy metals enter food webs and, through bioaccumulation, concentrate in fish and crustaceans like shrimp and minchilla. Communities located downstream from the tailings ponds will suffer severe environmental damage and health risks from consuming contaminated water and fish. Furthermore, the Mira River basin contains a rich aquatic biodiversity with 33 native freshwater fish species, with two species classified as vulnerable and three as threatened or near-threatened.

The northern border between Ecuador and Colombia is merely an administrative boundary, as there's great cultural similarity on both sides. This is a conflictive border with five recognized armed groups operating in the territory that have the capacity to infiltrate Ecuador, as demonstrated by the attack on the San Lorenzo police barracks and the murder of three journalists by the Oliver Sinisterra Front group in 2018, or the presence of FARC dissident guerrillas 300 km from the border. Additionally, 50% of the cocaine produced in Colombia is transported to Ecuador for trafficking to the United States, Europe, and various Pacific countries. Besides insecurity and violence, similar problems have been identified in both countries, such as extreme poverty, lack of basic services, deficient infrastructure, and environmental deterioration. The need for joint actions for the development of these border regions was recognized as early as the 1940s. In 1990, the Border Integration Zone was established between Colombia and Ecuador, primarily to regulate vehicle circulation. Subsequently, the Andean Community established Border Integration Zones as a tool for transnational development and integration in 2001. In 2014, the Ecuador-Colombia Binational Border Integration Plan was presented, based on social and economic development, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and pacification.

The Cascabel mine will keep its economic benefits in Ecuador but will leave only contaminated water and sediments in Colombia. The Cascabel mine itself, located 20 km from the border, and the necessary infrastructure for its operation could become future targets for armed groups if they come into conflict with the Ecuadorian government. Aside from the negative environmental and social impacts caused by Cascabel's tailings, this project will not contribute to the social and economic development needed for peacebuilding in the area on both sides of the border. On the contrary, Cascabel will be a source of greater economic inequality and conflict throughout its operational life of over 100 years, destroying three decades of work towards cross-border integration.

Esmeraldas, October 15, 2024. The Yemanyá Corporation – Water and Conservation, in its commitment to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources in the province of Esmeraldas, presents the
following statement:
The Cascabel mine will discharge over 600 million tons of waste into the Santiago River basin during its first 28 years of operation.

Cascabel will discarge 600 million tonnes of waste

The Cascabel mine is one of Ecuador's new large-scale mining projects. It's a metal deposit with high copper, gold, and silver content, located near Ibarra, in the municipalities of Lita and La Carolina, northern Ecuador, about 20 km from the Colombian border. The mining company SolGold recently signed a contract with the Ecuadorian government to operate Cascabel. They estimate that the Alpala deposit holds 10.7 million tons of copper, 760 tons of gold, and 2,600 tons of silver, which will be extracted during the mine's first 28 years of operation, with an estimated market value of 5.4 billion dollars. The Cascabel concession will generate over 600 million tons of waste during the mine's construction and operation. To accumulate these mining tailings, two tailings ponds have been planned in the upper Cachabí River basin, 4 and 7 km from San José de Cachabí.

These ponds will have the capacity to store over 2 billion tons of tailings. Although these ponds are located 40 km from the mining operation, they are easily accessible via the old railroad that connects Ibarra and San Lorenzo, which will be used to transport tailings from the mine via a 57 km pipeline. These tailings can produce acid leachate due to the presence of pyrites, and contain copper and other heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, or lead, as well as binding chemicals used in the ore concentration process. Furthermore, SolGold has tested the use of cyanide to recover gold from the tailings and should clarify if it will ultimately be used at Cascabel. The tailings ponds will pump 1500 cubic meters of contaminated water per hour into the Cachabí River and will have a secondary drainage into the Bogotá River. The Chachi and Afro-descendant communities located downstream from the tailings ponds will suffer severe environmental damage and health risks, disrupting their economic and cultural connection to the river.

Affected areas include the parishes of Urbina, San Javier de Cachabí, Santa Rita, and Carondelet, as well as the entire lower Santiago River, Concepción, Maldonado, and Borbón. The mangroves of the Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve will be the final recipients of these discharges. In the affected areas, it will be impossible to use surface and groundwater for domestic supply, and the recreational and daily use of the river itself will disappear, eliminating traditional economic activities such as fishing, shellfish gathering, and crab catching. Furthermore, the Santiago and Cayapas river basins contain a rich aquatic biodiversity with 62 freshwater fish species, five of which are endemic, and three are classified as vulnerable or threatened. After years of demanding control over illegal mining and the remediation of environmental damage, even with a still-valid court order to halt mining in the area, the government's response has been to hand these communities the drain from the world's third-largest copper mine.

The government assures that Cascabel is an example of sustainability, and SolGold presents itself on its website as a company committed to minimizing the social and environmental impacts of its operations. Although the government estimates an income of 1611 million dollars from mining royalties, of which 60% would be delivered to the affected municipalities, only the parishes of Lita and La Carolina, located within the Cascabel concession, will receive these mining royalties.

Although a strict environmental monitoring plan has been established, controls are only carried out in the Mira River and several streams that drain the concession area. This is a clear attempt to hide the true negative social and environmental impacts of Cascabel's tailings, which will be primarily located in the Santiago River basin.

Report shows Solgold’s Proposed Cascabel Mine in Ecuador will cause Untold Environmental Harm

New study shows Solgold's proposed Cascabel mine in Ecuador will cause untold environmental harm

Mining expert Steven H Emerman recommends Solgold abandon Cascabel project and regulatory agencies should not approve the mine after new report shows massive financial and environmental risks at proposed Cascabel site.

The areas highlighted red on this map are largely Australian controlled mining concession areas in northern Ecuador. The Cascabel mine is located approximately 100km north of Ecuador's capital city, Quito. The planned tailings dump is proposed to be located approximately 60km north east of Cascabel. Two pipelines are planned to pipe heavy and fine tailings to the waste dump area.

A proposed "block caving" gold and copper mine proposed by Australian mining exploration company Solgold, will most likely cause untold environmental harm to the region, Emerson shows. Solgold have been working in Ecuador for over a decade and the Cascabel* mine is their flagship operation in the country. The Cascabel mine, if operational could also lead to more mines in northern Ecuador. Cascabel tenements are surrounded by Hanrine concessions - owned by Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart.

Mining expert Steven H Emerman's detailed report raises some key issues regarding Cascabel, some of which include revelations that concentrate produced at Cascabel will be processed on site and then transported 150km-200km to the Port of Esmereldas and then on to undefined refining facilities. Previous reports by Rainforest Action Group have highlighted the security risks in this region. The report also reveals that the substantial deposits of gold, silver and copper at Cascabel are very low grade meaning that 469 million tonnes of rougher tailings and 60 million tonnes of finer mining tailings will be created by the Alpala mine and that the costs of the tailings management have been greatly underestimated. Tailings are the waste rock left behind after gold and other precious substances are extracted. They include high levels of arsenic, cadmium and other heavy metals and toxic substances. See Rainforest Action Group report on Tailing dams for more.

The Cadia mine in New South Wales near Orange shows the approximate size of 3km width tailings dam crest length. This tailings dam wall collapsed in 2018. The scars of the collapse can be seen just above centre left of image. In regards to the Solgold Cascabel proposal, "Thus, the mining company, its investors, the regulatory agencies, and the affected communities have not been provided with any knowledge as to what may actually happen after the failure of the tailings dam. Image credit: Google Earth

Tailings Dams

In Solgold's Pre-Feasilibility Study four preferred options for managing the tailings include the most preferred option which is the construction of two separate 57km long pipelines that will transport cleaner and rougher tailings to two unspecified sites on the coastal plains north west of Cascabel. Estimations for the costs of these options have been understated. No explanation has been given as to why the coastal plains location was chosen. Emerman writes "Considering that cost was a factor in the choice of the tailings management plan, the underestimation of the cost of tailings management comes as a great surprise".

Two of the other possible sitings for the tailings dams would be within the Cascabel concession itself. These two options would mean the construction of tailings dams over 200 metres in height and with dam crest lengths of over 1km. The two coastal plains options would require tailings dams with heights of 190 and 132 metres with final dam crest lengths of 3.3 and 4.6km.

SolGold's Pre-Feasibility study also does not analyse the consequences of tailings dam failure. There have been 2 to 5 major tailings dam failures around the world each year over the past 30 years. This raises real concerns about and what happens to the tailings dam after the mine is exhausted in 2050.

“The level of engineering complete for a TSF [Tailing Storage Facility] is greater than the level of engineering required for the rest of a mining project to support permitting requirements” (Henderson and Morrison, 2022)

Emerman states, 'The Pre-Feasibility Study recognizes community concerns regarding the open pit and the tailings storage facility as significant risk factors. The proposed action is 'Do not publish the location of any controversial infrastructure (e.g. Tailings, Open Pit),' although it is difficult to understand how such information could be kept secret."

This statement raises serious concerns that communities near the mine and tailings dumps have not been adequately consulted or given the opportunity to provide free and  informed consent, as is their legal right. Why the secrecy?

Acid Mine Drainage

Acidification of mining materials occurs when oxygen and water react to sulfide minerals to have been mined. This chemical reaction converts the sulfides to sulfuric acid. Acid mine drainage of this material is disastrous to waterways. Solgold propose to cover their tailings dams with a permanent water cover to lessen possibility of acidification of the cleaner tailings. This practice is no longer consistent with best industry practice as the water can have a detrimental impact on the physical stability of the tailings dam.

Solgold believe that only the 60 million tonnes and finer grade tailings will generate acidification but Emerman refutes this claim in his report, referring to the SME Tailings Management Handbook which says "Where tailings subaqueous disposal is employed behind constructed dams, the dam safety liability associated with maintaining the tailings in a flooded condition also remains … A dam that retains  a large water pond is inherently less safe than an embankment that does not. There are no case records of impoundments designed for perpetual submergence behind constructed dams that have been perpetually submerged. So, there is no demonstrated precedent for the legacy of permanent submergence being constructed today. We have only just started the clock” (Andrews et al., 2022).

View looking east towards the location of where the 529 million tonnes of mining tailings are proposed be located (marked in red, 50km from the ocean) - Colombian/Ecuadorian border in yellow. The tailings dam would be between 3-4 km in width and between 130-190 metres high. It is proposed to be located somewhere near the Rio Cachavi River which flows west into the Rio Tulubi, Rio Santiago and Rio Cayapas Rivers and then into the Pacific Ocean. None of the authors of the Pre-Feasibility study visited the site of the proposal Coastal Plains Tailings Dam site. What consultation is Solgold and the Ecuadorian Government doing with communities located nearby and downstream. The Rio Santiago/Rio Cayapas also take in the southern sections of the Mangroves Ecological Reserve Cayapas-Mataje

Two Tailings Pipelines

In the Pre-Feasibility there is no discussion about the possibility of pipeline failure. The two 57km pipelines have to cross four major rivers and numerous tributaries and there is no discussion of the exact pipeline route in the Pre-Feasibility proposal. Emerman suggests that failures of tailings pipelines will occur every year over the 28 years of the project. The Emerman report provides a database of 61 tailings pipeline failings, which has not been previously published. The pipelines will also require construction and maintenance of emergency ponds and leak detection systems.

There is also no discussion in the Pre-Feasibility study of excess water used in the pipelines which will most likely have to be discharged into local waterways near the tailings dam, or the costs of maintaining and eventual closure of the tailings dams. An estimated cost for the tailings dams is put at $267 million.. Operating costs of the tailings facility have also been underestimated by significant amounts.

Other concerns include the fact that there is currently no electricity at the proposed mine site. Proposed works have been woefully understated with multiple hydroelectric projects required to built to provide power to the mine. The low ore quality at Cascabel means that the entire ore body still has be crushed. It is suggested that Cascabel will require around 91MW.

Cascabel's power needs would consume all the entire output of the only two planned hydroelectric projects, Miravalle and Arenal, located near Cascabel and the Pre-Feasilibility study does not include any costings of new hydroelectric plant construction or operation. Miravalle and Arenal have a combined estimated cost of $283 million to generate 90MW. It is unlikely that the Government of Ecuador will support the idea that Cascabel would be the sole user of all the power generated by these yet to be built plants.

The Pre-Feasibility Study also states that "Multiple hydroelectric projects are currently in the advanced planning stage, with a total capacity of 200 MW having been identified in the local area. The Project plans to participate in these projects and secure the supply of power from them" yet Solgold provide no costings estimates for these plans.

Ecuador is home to some of the most diverse forests in the world. The proposed Cascabel mine will impact on local flora and fauna species, as will a planned tailings dump located approximately 60 km north east of the mine site. Two 57km pipelines are also bound to cause environmental problems.

In conclusion Emerman recommends that the Solgold should abandon the project and that investors should decline to invest in the project and that regulatory agencies should not approve the mine.

This article was first published by Friends of the Earth

 

A closer view of the mining tenements in the region. Hanrine tenements are owned by Gina Rinehart. Hanrine tenements south of Cascabel have already caused many problems including illegal mining and military interventions.

Gang activity in Ecuador shows mining fraught with issues

Gang activity in Ecuador shows mining fraught with issues

Statement by Rainforest Action Group

The current wave of criminal activity by organised crime gangs in Ecuador underpins predictions made by Rainforest Action Group from 2018 that investing in mining in the country is fraught and risks further destabilising the country.

Paramilitary groups operating on the Ecuador-Colombia border have been growing in strength and presence since 2018 when various dissident ex-FARC groups increased drug trafficking from Colombia to the port of Esmeraldas in the north of Ecuador, due to the easy access to the port of Esmerelda and shipping routes from there to the US or across the Pacific to Australasia. More recently it has been the huge Mexican cartels that have dominated in Ecuador.

Contamination from exploration. Image credit: Carlos Zorrilla

In 2018, when Ecuador opened up swathes of copper and gold mining concessions, increasing awareness of the wealth of resources in the country meant it became a hotspot for illegal gold miners from around South America. Gold mining is now seen as being as lucrative as coca growing by organised crime syndicates. Our investigations show that illegal mining has grown since the expansion of legal mining concessions, with illegal mining operations now a thriving income stream for cartels in Ecuador. Both legal and illegal mining are hotly contested by local populations, who say even small-scale explorations have caused significant environmental damage, such as contamination of waterways in Imbabura (pictured).

SolGold’s Cascabel concession in close proximity to the Colombian/Ecuadorian border, is an investor's nightmare. In reports, SolGold has indicated that mining material will be transported, via pipeline, 60 km north west from Cascabel towards San Lorenzo, a known organised crime hot spot. From San Lorenzo, the pipeline will then continue 100km south west to the port of Esmeraldas, where there is significant organised crime activity.

It has long been a political and military tactic in Ecuador to utilise unrest in order to push through mining operations in areas where there has been long-standing opposition to mining projects.

The new unrest adds to existing concerns about mining companies continuing to operate in indigenous territories and remote communities who have been protesting against both legal and illegal mining on their land, such as the Imbabura and Carchi Provinces, which have needed consistent a police and military presence.

Developers of any mine in Ecuador will be on shaky grounds indeed.

Please attribute quotes to Liz Downes, member of Rainforest Action Group, Director of Rainforest Information Centre.

Full media release here.

Ecuador landslide deaths show mining risks

Rising death toll from Ecuador landslide demonstrates risks for mining investment

Deadly landslide buries Ecuador town, killing 28 in region earmarked for mining by Australian mining company SolGold.

On Sunday 26 March, a massive landslide caused a large chunk of a mountainside to partially bury the isolated highland town of Alausí, in Chimborazo province, Ecuador – a region destined for mining activity by Australian company SolGold.

The highland town of General Morales, south of Alausí, shows the area's precarious topography. Image credit: Liz Downes

One week later, the death toll had risen to 28, with 163 homes damaged, and another 57 completely destroyed. Many residents are Indigenous people and small farmholders who have limited economic resources to rebuild and weather this tragedy.

Intensive search and rescue efforts are still underway despite the risk of further landslides due to new cracks in the upper part of the mountain.

The landslide followed monsoonal spring rains, which have caused the Ecuadorian Government to declare a 2-month state of emergency in 13 of the country’s 24 provinces. Just a week earlier, an earthquake centred in southern Ecuador killed 15 people.

The area of Alausí is earmarked to be explored for grand scale copper and gold mining. Brisbane-based SolGold has two pending concessions under its subsidiary Valle Rico Resources. These will likely be ratified by the Ecuadorian Government once the new National Mining Registry is opened, sometime in 2023.

"The tragic loss of life after these disasters demonstrates the extreme risk posed by any mining activity in this area. For example, the deadly accidents in Brazil in 2015 and 2019 have shown us what happens when mining waste containments are breached,” says Liz Downes of the Rainforest Action Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy group.

“Climate change is causing an annual increase of natural disasters in a mountainous and seismically active country. If mining-related deforestation and tailings dams had been involved here, the impacts may have been catastrophic. Despite this, SolGold and other Australian mining companies are continuing to invest heavily in Ecuador," says Liz Downes.

“This and other recent disasters should be of serious concern to all investors in Ecuador’s mining industry,” says Liz Downes.

Metallic mining concessions cover 7.55% (2.12 million hectares) of Ecuador’s total land mass. Exploration activities are being conducted in the majority of these, with tens of projects at advanced exploration stage, and two mines in operation.

SolGold, which is listed on the Toronto and London stock exchanges, owns the largest investment – a total of 75 concessions, distributed throughout Ecuador’s highlands and south-eastern Amazon.

Full media release here for more information.

Below: SolGold's Alausí concessions. Image credit: Ecuadorian Government ARCGIS

New report on SolGold backer Jiangxi

Rainforest Action Group launches its new report today on Jiangxi Copper, the Chinese mining company which invested $36 million US into SolGold in December

Only weeks after Canada ordered three Chinese companies to give up their investments in Canadian minerals in November 2022, citing national security, SolGold announced Jiangxi would become a new investors to drive development of its flagship project Cascabel in the north of Ecuador.

Jiiangxi Copper is the largest integrated copper producer in the People's Republic of China. Its principal business includes: copper, gold and silver mining, dressing, smelting, processing, extraction and production of sulphuric acid.

As of late 2022, Jiangxi was the 46th largest mining company in the world. Jiangxi operates 6 mines in China and one in Kazakhstan. It owns the biggest copper smelting and refining complex in the world, at Guixi in China, which has discharged significant pollution into the local environment, particularly metals (copper, cadmium, arsenic, lead and others) and acid gases (sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid). Fifteen villages with a total population of 10,000 people have been affected by the smelter, with hair and urine samples showing high concentrations of heavy metals. Farmland surrounding the smelter has also been contaminated, including 132 hectares of rice farmland and 6 hectares of vegetable farmland.

More on Jiangxi's operations can be found in the report here.

Rainforest Action Group report on Jiangxi Copper

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

New report on Solgold in Ecuador

Report on SolGold uncovers significant problems with priority projects

The report "SolGold in Ecuador; Solgold's woes continue" investigates each of SolGold's priority projects in Ecuador, as well as the company's financial situation; looking at environmental risk and community resistance to projects, as well as risk to concessions near the Colombian border from increasing instability due to ex-FARC dissidents, illegal mining and cocaine production.

The seventeen-page report was written and produced by the Rainforest Action Group, an advocacy and research group investigating Australian mining companies operating in Ecuador. It looks at community and indigenous resistance; financial issues; environmental and legal concerns; and issues around security, illegal mining and the Colombian border.

"SolGold has propped itself up for the past four years on increasingly shaky ground, inflating share prices and making optimistic claims about the potential of their targets in Ecuador," says Rebekah Hayden, a writer and researcher for the Rainforest Action Group.

"However, the Rainforest Action Group has identified significant hurdles that would make mining in Ecuador impractical, costly, dangerous and even potentially calamitous in the case of contamination of waterways through natural disaster or tailings dam collapse," Rebekah Hayden says.

"Besides the substantial environmental considerations and concerns regarding the security and practicalities of installing infrastructure at Cascabel, among other projects, it is clear that protracted legal cases and community opposition will impact mining operations in Ecuador for some time," Rebekah Hayden says.

The analysis is significant given the report's release falls during the annual convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, when mining companies around the world normally draw together to promote their activities.

"Our investigations show that illegal mining has grown since the expansion of legal mining concessions, with illegal mining operations increasingly run by armed militia connected to cocaine cartels and ex-FARC dissidents. Since December 2020, illegal mining has increased in the north of the country with a number of attempts to gain access to Cascabel," says Rebekah Hayden.

"A constant, and increasing police and military presence is needed to secure Imbabura and Carchi Provinces from these illegal miners, which is impacting negatively on the activity of locals in the community who have been protesting against both legal and illegal mining on their land," says Rebekah Hayden.

SolGold has a number of priority projects in the Imbabura and Carchi provinces, including Cascabel (jointly owned with Cornerstone Capital Resources), Blanca, Rio Amarillo and Chical, as well as other concessions Nieves and Rio Mira.

"Resistance to mining projects across Ecuador is growing with a popular consultation on February 7 in Cuenca showing 80% of the population wants to prohibit large and medium-scale mining activities in their river water recharge zones," says Rebekah Hayden.

"The consultation is expected to form the basis of a major legal challenge at the Constitutional Court level and could halt the development of mining projects in the region. SolGold project El Cisne 1A is in the Cuenca province," says Rebekah Hayden.

"Although mining companies are used to dealing with a high level of risk, when investigating SolGold's priority projects, we were surprised at the number of risk factors present for each project, as well as the high level of risk to waterways which serve thousands of people. We believe these factors make running mining operations in Ecuador by SolGold or other mining companies too significant to be feasible," Rebekah Hayden says.

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LINK TO REPORTS:
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UNESCO Biosphere Reserve threatened by BHP, SolGold and other miners

Protest in Ecuador over UNESCO Biosphere Reserve threatened by SolGold, BHP and other miners

Yesterday marked 60 days of protest against mining for people in the Parish of Pacto in Ecuador. In December, the Pacto parish declared an indefinite protest, arguing that mining activity threatens the biodiversity and water sources of the Chocó Andino reserve, home to the endangered Andean Bear.

One of the incredible amphibian species of the Choco Andino Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO added the Chocó Andino reserve to its list of Biosphere Reserves in 2018. The reserve covers 286,000 hectares of the Chocó Andino, and represents around a third of the Province of Pichincha, of which the parish Pacto is a part. The cloudforest is home to around 350 bird species, hundreds of orchids and bromelias, and 100 species of mammals, including the spectacled bear.

In 2011, the Quito Metropolitan Board declared Pacto’s micro-river basins be protected due to their importance for ecosystems in the area, explicitly prohibiting mining and drilling activities. However, in 2018 a number of mining concessions in the area were handed out.

"The Chocó Andino Reserve is now surrounded by dozens of mining concessions, and illegal mining is encroaching within the reserve. Community organisations say that mining is threatening the water sources of the reserve," says Rebekah Hayden, a writer and researcher for the Rainforest Action Group, an advocay and research group.

"SolGold subsidiary Valle Rico Resources holds several concessions around the Reserve, including two in neighbouring province Esmeraldas. BHP's Sabeleta concessions are just to the north of the Pichincha border, while Ecuador state company ENAMI is exploring on concessions within the Reserve area," says Rebekah Hayden.

"Sources in Pacto tell us that Gina Rinehart’s Ecuador subsidiary Hanrine has put in a bid for two concessions in the Pichincha province – Lorena 2 and 3, which are expected to be accepted once the mining cadaster opens again in April," says Rebekah Hayden.The Reserve includes nine Protected Forests, the Andean Bear Ecological Corridor, three Conservation and Sustainable Use Areas, multiple private reserves and a National Park: the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve.

UNESCO map showing Choco Andino Biosphere Reserve

In October 2020, the Metropolitan Board passed a resolution to support conservation in the area, but Pacto communities say mining exploration is continuing regardless, and is contaminating the Reserve.

Elcomercio reports conservation groups as saying mining is “not compatible with the biodiversity of the area, nor with the sustainable production that is part of the management plan for these areas. They pointed out the use of dynamite and other explosive materials, the contamination of the water, the fragmentation of the communities, the damage to the landscape”.

On December 18 2020, the Parish of Pacto declared the protest, demanding the departure of the three mining companies operating their concessions in the sector, and calling for greater control of illegal mining activities by authorities.

"Illegal mining has proliferated in Ecuador since the expansion of legal mining concessions, with illegal mining operations increasingly run by armed militia connected to cocaine cartels and ex-FARC dissidents. In January 2020, police uncovered an illegal mining operation in Pacto, which contaminated the area with hazardous wastes, while hydrocarbons, dynamite and materials for mining were seized," says Rebekah Hayden.

"Resistance to mining projects across Ecuador is growing with a popular consultation on February 7 in Cuenca showing 80% of the population wants to prohibit large and medium- scale mining activities in their river water recharge zones," says Rebekah Hayden.

"The consultation is expected to form the basis of a major legal challenge at the Constitutional Court level and could halt the development of mining projects in the region. SolGold project El Cisne 1A is in the Cuenca province," says Rebekah Hayden.

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Google Earth map showing Pacto and all mining concessions outlined in red. SolGold concessions are shaded in green. Dark green shaded areas indicate Protected Forests. Compare with UNESCO map above showing Biosphere Reserve which covers much of the Pacto Parish.

Australian concessions within Pichincha province:
Fortescue: Santa Ana 1, 2a
SolGold: El Decanso 1b; San Miguel 1,2,3,4

Closest Australian concessions to Pacto:
BHP: Sabeleta 3,4 in Imbabura province
SolGold: Aurora 1,2 in province of Esmeraldas

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.

Major legal victory for endemic species in Ecuador Rights of Nature case

A Constitutional Protection Action win at the Cotacachi Court on September 24 may stop mining companies destroying the habitats of endemic species in Ecuador

The Confusing Rocket Frog, one of the endemic species from the case. Image credit: Luis Coloma

“In a huge win for the environment, on Thursday 24 September a judge at the Cotacachi Court ruled that the Ministry of the Environment failed at its job of protecting species on the Llurimagua mining concession in northwestern Ecuador’s biodiverse cloud forests. The case has implications for mining companies operating throughout Ecuador,” says Rebekah Hayden, a member of the Rainforest Action Group, an environmental research and advocacy group.

The Constitutional Injunction (Medidas Cautelares) was brought to the Cotacachi court in late August to immediately stop the Llurimagua copper mining project. The case argued that extractive activities in all habitats where endemic species are found should be prohibited.

“Two endemic species of frogs are threatened by the Llurimagua mining project: the Longnose Harlequin Frog and the Confusing Rocket Frog. The case was put forward by environmental and community groups DECOIN, GARN, CEDENMA and the Jambatu Centre. More than three dozen other species including several bird species, two species of monkeys, and the spectacled bear are also in danger of extinction from the mining project,” says Carlos Zorilla, a founder of DECOIN.

The team presented several expert testimonies, including Ecuador's best-known herpetologist Juan Manuel Guayasamin and Amicus Curiae (Friends of the Court) from mammal biologist Professor Diego Tirira, University of Sussex biologist Mika Peck, and lawyers from Ecuador’s Ombudsman’s office, Nature Rights expert Natalia Greene, among others.

“The Llurimagua copper mining project is being jointly developed by Ecuadorian state miner ENAMI and Chile giant Codelco in an extraordinarily biodiverse region. However, community resistance, a highly flawed environmental impact study and conflict between the two companies over how to split the profits, means there hasn’t been any exploration on the site since 2018. Aussie companies BHP and Hanrine (a subsidiary of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting) are contenders to buy ENAMI’s share, with the sale expected to happen in the next few months,” says Rebekah Hayden.

The court ruled in favour of the Rights of Nature over the economic rights of the mining companies, giving the respondents - the Ministry of Environment and the Attorney General - three months to remedy the illegalities and irregularities detected in the first stage of exploration. This process will be overseen by a number of civil society groups, including universities.

“The judge ruled that if the government can’t show they can adequately protect these species from extinction, the mining permits will be revoked. This ruling also indicates that similar cases to protect other endemic species around Ecuador may succeed in the courts. Given Ecuador’s high rate of endemism, it could stop a large part of the country from being mined,” says Carlos Zorrilla.

The government has said it will appeal the decision, but the Rights of Nature team are confident they are more likely to win at a higher court.

“We are prepared to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, as we feel there is indisputable evidence that mining in Intag’s forests will violate the Rights of Nature,” Carlos Zorrilla says.

The prospect of a lengthy court case, particularly when Rights of Nature are such an important part of the Ecuadorian Constitution may affect BHP and Hanrine’s decision to invest in the project.

The Imbabura Province where Llurimagua is situated has been a hotbed of conflict since the early 1990s, with two mining companies forced out since then.

“With BHP emerging as a likely contender to buy out ENAMI, and their standstill agreement with SolGold expiring in October, allowing it to make a bid on the company, a winning bid for both SolGold and ENAMI’s share of Llurimagua would give BHP the largest number of concessions in the region, and increase its holdings across Ecuador to over 300,000 hectares,” says Rebekah Hayden.

“The case for the rights of endemic species could make it a very bad investment for BHP if they go ahead with these bids,” says Rebekah Hayden.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Carlos Zorrilla toisan06@gmail.com
(DECOIN)
Centro Jambatu andreateran84@gmail.com
Natalia Greene secretariat@therightsofnature.org, presidencia@cedenma.org
(GARN, CEDENMA)

Visit: www.decoin.org
Intag Santuario de Vida Facebook

For additional information about the frogs see:
https://bit.ly/331VNUf and https://bit.ly/307I2kV

Full media release here.