Ecuadorian Hispanic Journal>

Ecuador Future mining is uncertain in Ecuador 22-07-2008 -

- Hispanoecuatoriano (Quito)

Following the Mandate Constituent 6, mining in Ecuador was paralysed. Since April 18, 4,000 direct employees were unemployed, without counting those who depended indirectly sector. Is there or no confidence in the country to invest in the mining sector? Asked Jorge Barrero, the company IamGold, the former ministers of Energy and Mines, as part of a seminar held by the Chamber of Mines of Ecuador (CME). Galo April, Eduardo Lopez and Raul Baca did not give an encouraging response. They found common ground as political instability and legal uncertainty.

"Although it is said that there is a willingness from the Government for the development of mining, the facts do not think," said Barrero. On the one hand encourages mining and on the other hand, will fight to curb. It also showed the contradiction between the Government and the Assembly. For Eduardo Lopez, if it employs a publicly owned company, Petroecuador-style mean a big mistake. "We need to show competition, and certainly the private sector is much more profitable," he said. Galo April argued that the success lies in the combination of public and private sectors.

"I'm not optimistic compared to the future", if estatiza at strategic areas. "Having an aberration to foreign investment is a mistake." The investment not only brings money into the country but technology, training and employment, argued April.

At least 2,100 million dollars ceased to enter the country, as investment capital from the four biggest mining: BMI, Ecuacorrientes, IamGold, Aurelian. A former executive of Aurealian said that of 480 people, left 360.The between one of those who remained jobless. He explained further that a worker employed by 380 U.S. dollars fifteen days and the rest of the month was free. The purchasing power of these people in the Middle surely not be the same again, he said. The cessation of mining development, not only slows progress and production sector, but other items that feed the country's economy, settled.

Double speech Another point that the position was questioned about mining in the country is the double standards employed by the Assembly. According to the mandate exploration and exploitation shall be subject to strict compliance with environmental preservation. However, small-scale mining concessions, subsistence and craft were not banned, even though most are those that pollute. Cesar Espino, president of the CME, which has been criticized slowed the entry of large-scale mining, where it meets international standards of environmental stewardship. In a report by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum shows the danger of artisanal mining activity. It is reported that "production techniques are not the minimum parameters of environmental protection to keep the irresponsible use of mercury and cyanide, which involve themselves seriously affected the environment and human health." The discharge of these pollutants has caused the extinction of all life in rivers higher, as well as in several places, poor water quality precludes its use as drinking water for irrigation or fish farms. This type of mining is prohibited in the United States, Canada and Europe because of the danger of landslides in the use of explosives and working conditions to which workers are subjected (excessive heat and poor ventilation). However, the Constituent Assembly decided to allow mining to continue that work.

For business, this is a political manoeuvre, so we are not asking for votes in the referendum. According to a study on small-scale mining in Ecuador of Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development, the country had 92,000 people engaged in this activity. The worst affected areas in Ecuador, due to small-scale mining are areas of Portovelo-Zaruma and Ponce Enriquez. Analysts warned another problem within the sector, which retards the development of mining. It is the fragmentation that exists between large and small miners who do not unite to fight for the same cause. This added to the negative environmental groups such as Accion Ecologica and indigenous communities who do not want companies are installed in their populations, slowing down projects production of minerals in the country. That view of the Shuar, mining would destroy their way of life. That has survived over the years. "They say that will solve poverty, but we do not feel poor," says Adela Wampash, a member of the community.

In Morona Santiago there are seven species of gold, copper, zinc, silver and marble but extraction kill 10 thousand Shuaro living in the Cordillera del Condor, argues Petzain Raul, head of the village. For Cesar Espino, the solution lies in dialogue and that no final decisions are taken unilaterally. The fundamentalist does not lead the country nowhere, it should seek a consensus that would benefit the country and not just certain groups.