But a recent article just posted:

http://internationalmining.blog.infom...

This is new:

César Espinosa, president of the Chamber of Mining of Ecuador, said that there are three or four deposits of copper, molybdenum, and gold, which will mean a value in land resources of approximately $217 billion. He said that conceptually, he agrees with the government’s intention to reform the Mining Law in the sense of having an adequate and clear legal framework that better contributes to the State’s development of an industry that will be able to replace petroleum.

 ***

Replace petroleum, eh? 

That's the first time I've seen that thought explicity voiced.

ebear