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QUITO, June 24 (Reuters) - The value of Ecuador's mining
exports could hit $1.6 billion in 2021, a 74% jump from 2020,
due to plans by its two largest miners to boost copper and gold
processing, the Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources
Ministry said on Thursday.
The optimistic outlook comes as copper prices hover near a
record high hit last month, welcome news for the South American
country as newly-installed President Guillermo Lasso seeks to
boost the economy after a 7.8% contraction in 2020 and diversify
its struggling economy away from crude oil exports.
Ecuador has plentiful mineral reserves, but has lagged far
behind other Andean countries like Peru and Chile in developing
large-scale mining.
Its mining exports last year totaled $921 million. That
included copper sales from the Mirador mine owned by
Ecuacorriente, a unit of Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan, and
gold sales from Canadian miner Lundin Gold Inc's Fruta
del Norte mine.
In the second half of the year, Fruta del Norte is expected
to boost daily processing to 4,200 tonnes per day, from 3,500
currently, while Mirador's volume will rise to 60,000 tonnes per
day, the ministry said in a statement.
Between January and April, Ecuador exported some $421
million worth of minerals, up from $185 million in the same
period of 2020. That made up 5.4% of total exports, lagging
behind oil, bananas and shrimp shipments, the ministry said,
citing central bank data.
There are several other mining projects in the exploration
stage in Ecuador, including Australian miner SolGold Plc's
Cascabel concession and the Llurimagua project, owned
jointly by Ecuadorean state mining company Enami and Chile's
state-owned Codelco.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia
Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
