“It is not possible to continue with the chip in the head of gold or water at the tables that the Government has convened to deal with mining issues,” says the National Chamber of Mining

The agreements reached by the Government and indigenous organizations, which promoted a national strike last June, within dialogue table 5 on Energy and natural resources focused on a moratorium on oil and mining activities in certain areas and also in changes to various laws that govern these strategic sectors.

On the issue of minerals, the Government also promised not to grant new mining titles to new requests for mining rights or environmental licenses until it has the necessary regulations for the application of prior, free and informed consultation. In addition, it agreed to degrafify the mining concessions that intersect with the National System of Protected Areas and intangible zones, in the parts that are overlapping.

Dialogue tables: these are the agreements reached in oil and mining

There are other issues that are still under discussion and debate, and that are being dealt with within the so-called “technical tables”, which amount to seven. However, until now, representatives of industrial mining have not been invited to these dialogues, says María Eulalia Silva, president of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Mining (CME).

He points out that the industry did not participate in the round of dialogue tables and that this does not “seem well to them”, but they hope to receive the invitation for the remaining technical meetings: “The technical tables cannot become legislative or judicial instances, but they can this is the space to create an atmosphere of positive dialogue, congratulations. But to reach that environment we need to be at those technical tables, since the Chamber of Mining is the one that has the technical voice, our sector is the one that is growing the most and they cannot leave it out”.

On the subject of the law on prior consultation, it is a debt of the State since 2008. The current Minister of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Gustavo Manrique, affirmed that although the dialogues with social organizations began in distant points, with the passing of the days have come closer. “The issue of the law for the consultation is important and they will wait for it,” he said after leaving one of the dialogues.

According to Silva, although the issuance of this regulation is important, it must be clear that this is a mechanism for citizen participation and not a “veto”, since communities will not be asked whether or not they want extractive activities in their territories, but rather inform how it will act and concerns will be resolved. However, the social organizations have informed, in the technical tables, that the spirit of the law is that it does have the power of veto.

Fruta del Norte almost doubled its gold production in 2021, 428,514 ounces of the metal were extracted from the mine located in Zamora Chinchipe

“This issue must be dealt with in a technical and non-political, non-visceral, non-passionate way. This is the future of the country, the sector of the economy that grows the most, ”he indicates. In 2016, mining exports reached 353 million dollars, but this year they will be close to 2,000 million dollars. By 2030 they would be at more than 9,000 million dollars, according to estimates by the Spurrier Group.

According to a study on the impact of the mining sector carried out by the CME, 350,000 jobs and 6,000 million dollars in investments will be generated by 2024 thanks to industrial mining.

Several leaders of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) and other groups such as Yaku Pérez have affirmed, in several interventions, that the “same discourse of progress brought oil”, but that 50 years after exploiting it, the country continues with great problems economic, lagging behind at the regional level and with environmental liabilities.

Silva points out that this is a valid argument, but that mining has already shown in provinces such as Zamora Chinchipe (where large-scale mineral extraction is already carried out) that poverty has been reduced: “Industrial mining cannot keep pace with the political agendas. Technical mining, with technology, will displace illegal mining”.

Regarding the environmental impact, the executive maintains that the mining phases are various and begin with initial and advanced exploration, then feasibility, mine construction, operation. Then come the closing and post-closing stages. In these last two, according to Silva, is where the territory is recovered so that it becomes a natural site again.

Ecuador begins large-scale mining with the Mirador project in Zamora Chinchipe

“We still don’t have these last two stages in Ecuador because large-scale mining started three years ago, but in countries like Canada, Australia and Peru these areas have already been regenerated. We have to get the chip out of our heads that we have to choose between gold and water, that if we have mining, we don’t preserve the environment. We can have both. In fact, we can be great allies of conservation”, he affirms.

From January to July 2022, mining exports totaled more than $1.6 billion. The two large mining projects currently in production are Mirador and Fruta del Norte, both located in Zamora. (YO)