At the moment of writing, the essential minerals in Ecuador are copper and gold. However, it doesn’t mean that there is no potential for other minerals because it is present for other minerals like Iron and Uranium. Ecuador has a lot of potential due to its geographical location.
No material development has been made yet for renewables. But there are a lot of predictions that this industry is going to become very efficient for generating energy within the next decade. This article will discuss a whole idea about Canadian copper exploration in Ecuador by Solaris Resources.
Upcoming Partnership
There will be potential partnerships among two of the world’s biggest copper giants, including Xstrata Copper and Codelco. It is going to happen among the major Canadian-owned copper plays. But it is still uncertain what are going to be the plans of the government for the nascent sector. Solaris Resources is a Canadian company and one of the most successful copper companies.
Condition of Anonymity
A discussion about the condition of anonymity took place among two senior mining ministry officials. This official discussion revealed that China’s nonferrous metals would be interested in Corriente resources Panantza San Carlos. It is a big project in Southern Ecuador. These metals include the following:
- Xstrata Copper
- XTA.L
- No.1 copper producer Codelco
- 000630. SZ
Banning of Mining Operations
President Rafael Correa banned the mining operations in April, and a new law for mining was created. This resulted in major foreign exploration companies in Ecuador looking for more partners because they lost millions of dollars in market capitalization. One of the significant exploration companies included Corriente CTQ.TO.
Mining Policy of Economy Minister
Correa is a former economic minister. He made sure to give rise to the foreign miners to bring forward an industry worth billions of dollars. He said that it would be very beneficial for the entire nation that is not doing so well right now. Unfortunately, his mining policy was erratic, and it has kept the foreign investors uneasy.
Growing Interest
Interest has been seen in Ecuador for the mining industry. And interest is also increasing in copper, but decisions will have to be made about the politically unstable Nation. Xstrata Copper is among the world’s biggest copper producers, and they have commented on this opportunity.
According to them, they have looked in Ecuador just like other countries for the opportunities for Business Development. According to them, they don’t plan to proceed with any projects out there, and they don’t have any plans for proceeding with development projects, especially in Ecuador or at the moment.
Decline after Decline
There has been a decline after decline whenever there was a discussion about development projects for the industry. Another spokeswoman from Codelco declined to talk about this project directly. She mentioned that the companies are currently looking forward to opportunities in several other countries.
Preliminary Assessment Technical Report
A preliminary assessment technical report was published, and it shows the average annual metal production over the first decade of 418,000,000 pounds copper.
What’s Next?
Currently, all the Corriente exploration projects are suspended by the government. It happened back in 2006 to prevent any contradiction between the communities that oppose and support copper mining activity in the jungle.
