Latam investor article31 Jul 2021 10:47
How quickly could Ecuadorian mining become comparable to the industry in Chile or Peru?
MB: We have to recognise that this isn’t just down to the government and our laws and regulation – we must also understand the mining industry. It takes some years to discover and define deposits, then even more time to build a mine. I would love it, if the mining industry could accelerate this timeframe but that is not realistic. Nobody is going to invest billions of dollars until they have everything in place and as much information about the deposit, production volumes and economic feasibility. We want mining to be done right, so we have to accept that will take time. Especially in a country like Ecuador where the deposits are very large.
But we are clear about one thing – 2020 to 2030 will be the decade of mining in Ecuador. It will be up to history to decide if I have been a successful minister or not. I was proud to serve as a Vice Minister under former minister Carlos Pérez, and now I will try my hardest to leave my stamp on the development of Ecuador’s energy and non-renewable natural resources.
By 2030 we hope that mining will be attracting billions of dollars of investment, generating billions of dollars in annual exports and employing hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians. We will have the best companies in the world working here because our geology is spectacular. We have the same geology as Peru and Chile and even the little exploration that has happened so far has found some massive deposits. When these are turned into mines they will be among the biggest in the world, which is why we want to attract the largest, most responsible mining companies.
Sign In
Follow the stocks
