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Minera SolGold secures a 33-year contract, sealed by international arbitration Author: Evelyn Tapia Updated: 1 Aug 2023 - 5:57 The Australian miner SolGold will pay, from 2025, some USD 75 million in anticipated royalties for the exploitation of copper in the Cascabel project , out of a total of USD 968 million. Solgold technical staff carry out exploration work. - Photo: Courtesy Solgold. The Australian company SolGold will invest between USD 2,700 and USD 3,000 million to build the Cascabel copper mine in Imbabura, which is projected to be the largest in Ecuador, the president and CEO of the company, Scott Caldwell, told PRIMICIAS. According to Caldwell, with the copper and gold reserves that have been found in the area, Cascabel could even be one of the 10 largest mines in the world. The investment projected by SolGold is almost four times the amount of Foreign Direct Investment that Ecuador received in all of 2022: USD 788 million. Also read: Foreign investment increases 22%, but does not reach 2020 levels The Ministry of Energy and Mines expects that these resources will arrive from 2025, when the Australian company begins to build the mine; a process that will take five years and will require 3,700 direct jobs.

Thus, Cascabel, which will be located in the Ibarra canton, would start production in 2030 and would be the third large-scale mine in Ecuador, along with Fruta del Norte (gold) and Mirador (copper), both located in Zamora Chinchipe, in the Amazon. In Cascabel, the main material is copper: reserves of 9.9 million tons are estimated. But, it also has gold and silver reserves. The technology that SolGold will bring to Cascabel is not new in the mining industry on a global scale, but it will be new for a market like Ecuador, which started large-scale mining in 2019.

During the operation of the mine, SolGold estimates that some 1,000 jobs would be generated. The agreements between SolGold and the Government On July 19, 2023, after almost seven months of negotiations, the Ecuadorian State and the SolGold mining company reached an agreement on the terms and conditions for exploitation in this deposit. The first agreement was that the exploitation contract in Cascabel will last 33 years and may be renewed. SolGold agreed to pay some USD 75 million in anticipated mining royalties to the State, out of a total of USD 968 million expected. The first USD 25 million will be paid when construction of the mine begins. The other USD 50 million will be paid in two parts, over the next two years. It was also agreed that the company pay royalties of between 3% and 8%, depending on the price at which the refined metal is sold, be it copper, gold or silver.

Https://twitter.com/marketplunger1/status/1683544944537903132?s=46&t=XX3-iZapJ1HaXMFlnE7nKQ

Hi DM …. Who knows

Still expecting to see it this week

Thanks SA ….. actually massively positive

“Suspension of eventual full production in the ITT block would avoid the emission of 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide, says Yasunidos, though the group did not provide a time frame for the figure.

Petroecuador says there are no flares at the block, that it occupies 0.01% of the reserve's 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) and that roads are environmentally-friendly.

Meanwhile, opposition to mining is blocking some $1 billion in potential investment for the next two years, says Ecuador's Chamber of Mining, though a major project by Australia's SolGold (SOLG.L) is moving ahead.

Mining was Ecuador's fourth-largest source of income last year, behind sales of oil, bananas and shrimp, bringing in $2.8 billion”

Https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuadorean-votes-could-bar-oil-output-amazon-reserve-mining-near-quito-2023-07-31/

1.069m at 15.8

Was closing well over 16p til last seconds

Big UT incoming

Shame slug not here he could talk us through it

But hey at least we get to talk about taking this to production instead

Just chatting with another investor and speculating whether the new website could either be tied in with some big news or even a revamp ….. maybe a change of name / image ?

Surely not just a rehash of the same old stuff

Would oops

Question for someone who might know

If we had received the water licenses required at Cascabel would be be lawfully required to RNS it or wouldn’t it be considered unnecessary?

lol pond life can go **** himself ……

Add

https://twitter.com/itswarrenirwin/status/1683619550485688321?s=46&t=XX3-iZapJ1HaXMFlnE7nKQ

Hi Add

“ I see a sale …. All investors need an exit”

New website should be “live by Monday “ so hopefully major investors fully updated and more usable.

Morning HFM ….. interesting stuff thanks

I tend to agree with Mr Irwin

https://twitter.com/sghass3/status/1683578329163767808?s=46&t=XX3-iZapJ1HaXMFlnE7nKQ

“The authorities and Australian mining company Solgold agreed to move the Cascabel project to the development stage. This is the seventh largest copper and gold project under development in the world.

The mining company will invest $5 billion, $35 billion will be exported from 2030. The State will have an income of $8 billion during the life of the mine.

Cascabel found that Ecuador has the same geology as Chile and Peru, the two largest copper exporters on the planet. The Andes are to copper what the northeastern coast of South America, Venezuela and Guyana are to oil: the world's largest deposits. Chile has the largest copper mine, Escondida, and in the group that operates it is BHP, which is also the largest shareholder in Solgold.

Ecuador has not produced copper like Chile for two reasons:

1) Our Andes are not arid like a good part of the southern Andes, and therefore it has been more difficult to detect the mineral. Ecuador has not been explored as intensely as Chile and Peru, so the search for copper has better prospects in Ecuador. In Imbabura just south of Cascabel is Llurimagua, in which Codelco invests: the first operation of the Chilean state company outside of Chile.

Ecuador is the future of Andean mining, unless we Ecuadorians prevent it. The Fraser Institute, which surveys mining companies, classifies Ecuador as the country with the best mining prospects in the world outside of a couple of areas in Canada and Australia, home countries of the largest mining companies.

2) Our mining regulations are not competitive, another factor behind our backwardness. We are suspicious of foreign investment, we pass laws that establish unrealistic conditions and we are the kings of paperwork. This changed with Gustavo Noboa's mining law, but the National Assembly blocked it again in 2008. Rafael Correa reopened mining in 2015. 7 years were lost, so Cascabel will be in production in 2030 instead of today, when we so need that tax revenue.

There is no need to grieve over spilled milk, but do avoid making mistakes again. The Constitutional Court hinders mining investment. Lenín Moreno closed the mining cadastre in 2018 and Guillermo Lasso has not reopened it. This interrupts the inflow of capital, and last year there was foreign disinvestment in mining: what the two mining companies in production send abroad is more than the new investment, while dozens of companies wait to be allowed to invest.

There are other projects ready to go into development: Loma Larga, Curipamba and La Plata. Behind come more, including Crabs (El Oro) and Warintza. It is necessary to facilitate exploratory investment in many other projects and open the mining cadastre for new companies to enter to prospect. You have to have activities at all stages.

Norway has just announced that a phosphate, vanadium and titanium deposit discovered in 2018 is commercially viable; The Government supports the project and its development will proceed.”

Morning smickster

Bang on mate and personally I like everything Scott Cauldwell is doing and saying ( in that he can only say so much ). No hiding the fact that we’re not drilling anywhere in fact he was emphasising the point. All the term extensions / licenses are derisking the project for whoever the new owner may be.

All we need now is some competitive tension and we’re off.

Also good to hear that whilst Maxit & Citi are retained, they only get paid if they come up with a “substantial transaction”

Very happy now to sit back and wait this one out now, it may be a long road but it’s a straight one,

ATB DBW

Lol …… maybe that’s today’s news

Yep same…. I’m sure it would have been mentioned

“The agreement with SolGold will "position Ecuador as an important producer and copper exporter," said Minister Fernando Santos, noting that the project has been awarded all necessary environmental and water permits”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ecuador-solgold-seal-deal-launch-nearly-5-bln-mining-project-2023-07-20/