Mar 5, Ecuador’s government and China-backed company Ecuacorriente signed the first contract for large-scale copper mining under the legal framework approved by the 2008 referendum of constitution.
In front of the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, the contract was signed by the Non-Renewable Resources Minister, Wilson Pastor, and senior representatives of two Chinese mega corporations who joined in supporting the mining company Ecuacorriente.
The Mirador reservoir, which has the reserves of five billion pounds of copper, will be exploited with 52 percent in favor of the state. It is located in the south of the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, 375 kilometers south of the capital.
Today begins a new era in Ecuador, to make a qualitative leap with the responsible development of mineral potential, Correa said at the conclusion of the solemn ceremony, with many politicians, including President of Parliament, Fernando Cordero.
He reiterated the president’s decision to develop country’s natural resources and benefit the people especially the local communities, through these contracts.”
Without mining the world back to the stone age, everything we use today usually comes from mining and without it the modern lifestyle could not sustain, said Correa.
The main danger to our Amazon rainforest is not mining, but the expansion of the agricultural frontier which will continue to grow if we do not give these people employment sources, said the president, referring that over three thousand will be created by the project.
The estimate is that production in the province of Zamora Chinchipe will begin in late 2013, under this agreement, effective for 25 years, about one billion dollars will go to benefit the communities.
You can remedy the environmental impact by up to 95 percent once the project is in operation, Correa said, and called to say Yes to the use of natural resources with environmental and social responsibility.