Five priority copper and gold deposits in Ecuador

Ecuador's mining industry is expected to achieve great development in 2022, with five new projects moving into the next phase, with production at the two large copper mines, (Fruta del Norte) North Fruta and (Mirador) Miradol, further consolidated.

The Government of Ecuador has identified five projects that have entered a later stage of exploration and can be given priority for development, including: Gagerhos (Cangrejos) in Cascaville (Casbabel), El Oro province, Cascaville, in Cascaville, El Oro province, in Cascaville, (Loma Larga), Bol í var province, in Assuai province, in Curibamba (Curipamba), Cotopaxi province, in (Curipamba), Cotopasi province, in Assuai province.

Lomalga is the first project expected to start building a mine, and the owner of Dundee Precious Metals, (Dundee Precious Metals), has completed a feasibility study. The mine also has gold, silver and copper.

Toach mining company (Toachi Mining Corporation) will begin construction of the La Plata copper mine in 2023, with an estimated investment of US $70 million. The mine contains copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold.

Next is the Quribamba (Curipamba), for the gold-copper-zinc mine. Garrejos is a copper and gold mine. Cascaville is currently the largest gold, silver and copper mine in the country.

Deputy Minister of Mining Saville Villa (Xavier Vera) believes that the five projects are expected to increase exports by US $4 billion by 2025, and mining activity is likely to increase further as the area of mining rights expands. Only 10 per cent of Ecuador's land area has been explored and 3.17 million hectares of land can be used for mining rights.

Andrew Dalton (Andrew Taunton), vice president of (SolGold) at Sol Gold, said that over the past two years, they have been advancing exploration, evaluation and pre-feasibility studies with the aim of determining the best mining, processing and export methods.

The Alpala deposit in Cascavier mining rights is one of the top ten copper deposits discovered in the world in recent years. The deposit contains about 25 million ounces of gold, 100 million ounces of silver and 11 million tons of copper.

"the feasibility study will determine the best mining method, whether fully or partially developed," Dalton said. After the completion of the feasibility study, the mine is expected to start construction, with a construction period of at least 4 years. In the quickest case, the mine is expected to go into production in 2028.

"this phase means the creation of investment and jobs, when local workers will be used in Lita (Lita) and La Carolina (La Carolina), where the Cascavier project is located," Dalton said.

Dalton is confident about Ecuador's mining prospects, especially the government's openness to attract more companies to invest.

Santiago Y é pez, general manager of Canada's auspicious Mining (Lucky Minerals), believes that production of the two major projects Mirador and Fruta North will be more stable in the next few years, but there are still some difficulties in putting the above five new projects into production, mainly because several social sectors are opposed to mining, when in fact large-scale mining projects have just begun.

Patricio Vargas (Patricio Vargas), director of mining companies in Asua province, believes that the current political and legal situation may affect mining projects. "We also believe that Ecuador has great potential for mineral resources, but the current mining policy is not coordinated," he said. The country's mining policy also has shortcomings and shortcomings, such as the closure of the mining registration system, which has been in operation for three years.

In addition, he said, Ecuador also has legal risks, as reflected in the ruling of the Constitutional Court. For example, it allowed the Cuenca region to hold a referendum in 2019 and recently supported the idea of Los Sedros (Los Cedros) Forest Park in the province of Inbabula. He believes that the decision will hinder mining activities because the law does not specify that mining is prohibited in this area (woodland).

In addition, many local governments have illegally declared that mining is prohibited in their areas. "if new mining rights cannot be registered, coupled with mistakes, bureaucracy and centralization, there is no way to talk about mining countries," says Vargas.