RE: Northern miner6 Jun 2022 20:03
Access to authorities has also improved (the Ecuadorian Mining Chamber has met with President Lasso four times since he took office), and the appointment in April of mine engineer Xavier Vera as Minister of Energy and Mines, a post usually held by oilmen, also bodes well for the sector.
Lasso’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of mining companies released in April, Ecuador’s score jumped to 72.79 points, making it the most attractive country in South America.
That’s partly due to increased political uncertainty in Chile, Colombia, and Peru, but also real progress made in Ecuador over the last year.
In May, the Environment Ministry granted an environmental licence to Atico’s La Plata underground gold project, which could begin construction next year. Similar announcements are expected on Loma Larga and Domo in the coming weeks.
The government has also signed pioneering investment protection agreements with Lumina Gold and SolGold, offering legal certainty while the companies advance their projects in return for guaranteed investments totalling almost US$500 million.
Development of these two large projects would put Ecuador firmly on the map as one of South America’s leading mineral producers. According to a prefeasibility study published in April, a US$2.7-billion underground project at SolGold’s Cascabel could produce almost 200,000 tonnes of copper, 680,000 ounces of gold, and 1.3 million oz. silver annually during its first five years in production.
And while its registry of mining property remains closed since 2018 following pressure from Indigenous communities, Lasso’s government has now begun to process applications made before the suspension. It could reopen to new applications by the end of the year, Guillermo Flores, executive director of mining and energy regulator ARCERNNR, told The Northern Miner.
With dozens of mining companies already in Ecuador and others waiting to get a foothold, that could trigger a rush for claims and this time the agency will have the systems and staff in place to ensure transparency and greater legal certainty, some industry observers say.
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