Government will temporarily suspend all mining activity in Napo, after the operation against illegal gold extraction in Yutzupino

As a result of the military and police intervention in the Yutzupino sector, in Napo, last Sunday, February 13, where the illegal mining, affecting the Jatunyaku Riverthe Government resolved to temporarily suspend all mining activity in the provinceincluding that carried out by natural persons and companies that have authorized licenses and concessions.

so announced Juan Carlos Bermeo, Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, during a press conference offered on the afternoon of this Tuesday, February 15, at the Palacio de Carondelet, together with the Government Minister, Alexandra Vela, and the Police Commander, Carlos Cabrera.

Operation with 1,600 soldiers was carried out in Yutzupino, Napo, against illegal mining

Bermeo clarified that The measure will be temporary, while the environmental problems are corrected generated by illegal exploitation, and will be finalized until Friday this week, once the report is obtained from the Energy Regulation and Control Agency (ARC) that will support the resolution adopted by the ministry.

“This is about the suspension of mining activities. No way, for a basic concept of legal certainty, it is a suspension of mining rights or concessions”, emphasized the minister.

As a result of the weekend operation, in which 1,600 police and military participated, Minister Vela explained that 48 backhoe loaders were retained, of which 27 have been transferred to the collection center of the judicial authority and whose plates are being verified in the records of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. 10 water pumps and 7 motors were also seized.

The minister said that the purpose is not to attack the ancestral and artisanal miners, but take back the riverthe vegetation of the area and take care of the health of the inhabitants.

“The objective of the Government is to eliminate the activity of the companies that are present in the illegal exploitation that has been done in the Jatunyaku River. This activity requires a lot of money and we can only see that with a simple example: each machine that we have seized has a cost of between 180,000 and 250,000 dollars. No artisanal miners, no one who pans for gold in the pools that are opened and left by backhoes working in the river bed, none of them have $180,000, much less $250,000. Here is a business activity equivalent to drug trafficking”, Vela described, while insisting that the Government “will not allow” the development of illicit activities.

In this sense, the research includes related crimes and target the entire chain involved in illegal mining, to detect the owners of the machines, the people or companies that provide fuel and other materials, the buyers and sellers of the stolen gold.

The Minister of Government pointed out that illegal exploitation in the sector began from the first days of November last year. He said that since then the authorities have started the legal processes to carry out the operation, but there were delays along the way because did not have the support of the Council of the Judiciary from the province.

He pointed out that the following phases of the intervention continue, although he did not want to delve into details. (I)