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Ecuador Mining, Oil Minister Derlis Palacios Resigns  Dow Jones, June 8th

Codelco, Ecuadorian Govt Sign Exploration Deal  BNAmericas, June 5th

Ecuador, Chile To Sign Mining Agreement  Dow Jones, June 5th

Nortec Ventures and Copper Mesa extend agreement  June 4th

Codelco inks minerals exploration deal with Ecuador  Mining Weekly, June 5th

Cornestone Update in Ecuador  May 26th

Ecuador State Company to Be Key Player in New Metals Industry  Bloomberg, May 18th

International Minerals Reports Net Income of US$ 2.0 million  May 19th

IAMGOLD Announces First Quarter Results  May 14th

AndeanGold Reports Additional Positive Assay Results at Rio Seco Project, Peru  May 12th 

Kinross to Raise Funds and Continue Seeking Acquisitions  Report on Business, May 7th

 AndeanGold Corporate Update  May 7th

Kinross Reports Record Revenue and Margins  May 5th

Plexmar Resources: Projects Update  May 4th

Cornerstone Signs Letter of Intent on Sale of Ecuador’s La Plata Interest  April 28th

Trilliant Exploration Expands Operating Capacity at Muluncay  April 28th

Dynasty gets official Zaruma gold project approval from Ecuador  Mineweb, April 21st

Quri Resources, Inc. Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Conquista Project in Ecuador  April 20th

Salazar Granted Authorization to Resume Operations in Ecuador  April 20th

Operations at International Minerals' Rio Blanco Project in Ecuador Temporarily Suspended  April 17th

C2C’s JV Producing Gold  April 14th

AndeanGold Update on Rio Seco Project, Peru  April, 13th

Copper Mesa Announces Corporate Update April 9th

Dynasty Begins Commissioning Zaruma Gold Plant  April, 8th

Georox Resources Inc. Announces Lapse of Mining Concessions April 2nd

Nortec Ventures Corp.'s Acquisition in EcuadoApril 1st

INVESTORS' GOLDEN PARACHUTE Investors Business Daily, April 3rd

Corriente: Negotiations Continue for Potential Sale  March, 31st

Corriente May Be Sold to China's Tongling Metals  Reuters, March 26th

Govt Officially Lifts Mining Ban on Kinross, Corriente - Ecuador  BNAmericas, March 17  

Ecuador Government Official States that All Suspensions of Mining Activities are Lifted  March 17

Ecuador Sets its Price for Resource Development  Report on Business, March 5th

Cornerstone Updates Mining Law in Ecuador  March 3rd

Aurelian Pleased With Mining Ban Lifting  BNA, March 3rd

"All Suspensions of Mining Actitivities are to be Lifted": Serrano  March, 2nd

Large-Scale Mining Starts in Ecuador  El Comercio, March 2nd

Quri Resources Inc. Signs Letter of Intent With G&G Mining Corp.  Feb. 25th

Salazar Provides Inferred Resource for El Domo Deposit  Feb. 25th

C2C Pours Gold in Ecuador  Feb. 25th

ECUADOR MINING NEWS

State-Owned Company to Operate with Revoked Concessions

More than 13 months after the Constituent Assembly’s April 2008 mining mandate, large-scale mining projects in Ecuador have yet to recommence.  President Correa has made recent – and repeated — statements praising Canadian firms’ environmentally friendly mining techniques and welcoming new international investors.  Yet, the investment community faces another threat: the yet-to-be-created state-owned National Mining Enterprise.
[Read more]
 
Silvia's Op-Ed in the Canadian Financial Post

EMN's writer Silvia Santacruz run an Op-Ed titled The War on Mining: Fighting Back in the Canadian newspaper Financial Post.  The piece shows how the demand for gold has propelled economic growth in the developing world and has led to significant job creation and improvements in health with companies fighting malaria, TB and AIDS. Despite this, the industry is under attack by environmental NGOs. The war on mining is global.  Go to Silvia's Financial Post Op-Ed

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Ecuador Featured in GMF 2009

Global Mining Finance, an annual almanac covering financial aspects of the worldwide mining industry, this year featured a country snapshot on Ecuador authored by EMN’s Writer-Editor Silvia Santacruz.  In 2008 Ecuador attracted its first major, Kinross Gold Corp., which acquired Aurelian Resources’ Fruta del Norte “gold dinosaur” project.  Despite ongoing political uncertainty, President Correa’s backing of the industry and the application of a new mining law will finally help firms develop large scale mining in Ecuador.  Silvia also wrote the LatAm Round Up in GMF.  Link to GMF
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Ecuador Approves Law, Mining Ban Lifted

Ecuador’s interim legislature overwhelmingly approved the country’s long-awaited mining law last Monday, permitting mining companies to resume operations following a nine-month ban issued by the former Constituent Assembly last April 2008. The bill passed despite fierce opposition from indigenous organization CONAIE.  Firms will face a challenge to develop the industry with strict environmental rules.
[Read more]

Silvia's Op-Ed Published in El Comercio  

Quito-based El Comercio newspaper ran Silvia Santacruz's anti-windfall profit tax Op-Ed last January 3rd.  In the piece, Silvia comments that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has recently dismissed his proposal for a 20% WFT on oil companies' profits.  Not only does Ecuador applies this tax at a much higher rate -- 70% -- but it might extend it to the mining industry, she warns.  Silvia urges legislators to consider the current global economic recession and exempt the nascent industry from a WFT, reminding them that mining operations have been halted since last April 2008, causing some firms to explore new frontiers, or simply sell their assets.  Go to original Op-Ed

[Read more]

Correa Appeases Leftists While Pushing Mining Law 

The CONAIE and anti-development green NGOs demonstrated last Monday in Quito arguing that the law favors multinational companies at locals’ expense.  In a bold move to placate the extreme leftists, Correa announced last Thursday that he may default on Global Bonds interest payments, which his administration’s auditing commission recently deemed “illegitimate.”  The strategy appears to be working, as CONAIE, its political arm Pachakutick, and other extreme leftist organizations support a default on international debt and applauded the President’s initiative.
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Ecuador’s New Mining Law No Panacea

Ecuador’s MMP minister Derlis Palacios visited the Congresillo last Wednesday, November 19th after presenting the mining law the prior Friday.  The new mining law is not a panacea.  It creates new oversight agencies and a 5 percent minimum sales royalty, confirms the 70 percent windfall tax, and encourages firms to opt for service contracts rather than individual exploitation contracts.  The bill also gives the government the authority to cancel concessions or contracts if any human right is violated, or if the natural habitat suffers irreversible damage.  EMN has translated some articles in the Mining Law, and also commented on some of them.  
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Opinion: Ecuador Should End WFT Double-Speak

In the midst of congratulating the Ecuadorian government on its landmark decision to eliminate the proposed 70 WFT, EMN received a letter from vice-minister of mines José Serrano, who denied MMP acting vice-minister Xavier Cordova statements of the government’s willingness to eliminate the WFT.  The circumstances do not call for a correction, as Canadian media reports and telephone calls to several Denver Gold Forum participants confirm that Cordova made those statements.  While government officials engage in double-speak, poor communities surrounding exploration projects are still waiting for the drilling machines to turn back on.  This situation is not just untenable from a development standpoint, it is morally wrong.

[Read more]

Cementing Ecuador’s Poverty by Decree

Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly issued a decree halting all medium- to large-scale mining operations in the country for the next six months.  During her pro-mining mission to Ecuador, EMN Writer-Editor Silvia Santacruz witnessed how much a single junior exploration company can benefit the economy of impoverished communities such as Pucará, three hours from Cuenca.  While international investors lose confidence, and mining companies redefine their strategies and seek friendlier mining frontiers, the Pucarasenses simply wait.  
[Read more]
 
EMN’s Investor Survey: A Mixed Bag
  
The EMN Investor Concerns Survey, an initiative of this publication, reveals that half of respondents want to keep their mining stocks in firms operating in the Andean country.  This is regardless of uncertainty due to changes in the attractive mining law, the inclusion of a 70% WFT, and extremist green NGO tactics.  Nevertheless, 41% of respondents have already sold a portion of their shares due to unease, while 46% think Ecuador ’s financial risk is worth it.  Check out the EMN survey results
[Read more]
RELATED NEWS

 

NEW 16 killed in Peruvian Amazon clasheAFP, June 5th

 

Ecuador Studies ICSID Decision To Define Position On Perenco  Dow Jones May 21st

Ecuador's Victorious Correa Faces Economic Trials  Reuters, April 28th

Q+A: What does Correa re-election mean for Ecuador?  Reuters, April 26th

"We Expect Exploration Spending Around the World to Decline": Goulden.  BNAmericas, March 27

Ranking Copper Stocks  Mineweb, April 8th

Dropping Oil Prices Threaten Ecuador’s Economy  Oxford Analytica, April 1st

Ecuador Sees $1 billion Loan From China for Oil  AP, April 8th

Ecuador Sees World's Oil At $55-$60 Per Barrel In 2009  Dow Jones, April, 7

$330 Million to Support the Environment in Peru from World Bank  Feb. 18th

Peru Mining Unions Call for a Nationwide Strike  Reuters, Feb. 1st

Ecuador Threatens to Expel Repsol Over Tax Dispute  Reuters, Jan. 31st

Ecuador Auditor Urges Debt Default  AP, Nov. 17th

Ecuador: Oil-Product Export Revenues +103% In Aug To $152 Million  Dow Jones, Nov. 7th

Ecuador, Repsol Says Oil Contract Deal Reached  Reuters, Nov. 6th

Is Studmuffin's hardball finally working?  Inca Kola News, Nov. 3rd

Long-term Oil Projects Look Vulnerable  Report on Business, Nov. 3

Ecuador Ends Contract with Spanish Oil Company  AP, Oct. 31st

Venezuela, Ecuador Bonds Set to Lag Andean Region  Reuters, Oct. 22nd

Ecuador Rejects Brazil's Odebrecht Bid to End Dispute  Reuters, Oct. 8th

Ecuador's Jan-Aug Oil Exports Jump 90% To $8.35 Billion On Year  Dow Jones, Oct. 16

Ivanhoe Energy Ecuador Signs Contract With Petroecuador to Develop Heavy-Oil Field  Oct. 8th

Ecuador Threatens to Expel Oil Companies  Xinhua, Oct. 6th