The authority famous the finance ministry’s fiscal sustainability opinion is pending, however no points had been anticipated. “The significance of the Mirador enlargement may be very clear,” Ocampo stated.
Mirador, within the southeastern Zamora-Chinchipe province, has reserves estimated at 3.2 million tonnes of copper and is likely one of the solely two mines in Ecuador which are in operations. The opposite is Lundin Gold’s (TSX: LUG) Fruta del Norte gold mine.
The extension, additionally dubbed Part II, seeks to spice up ore manufacturing on the Mirador South deposit from 60,000 tonnes per day (20 million tpa) to 80,000 t/d (26.2 Mtpa). It additionally consists of creating the Mirador North deposit, with an anticipated output of 60,000 t/d and an estimated funding of $653 million.
After the extension, the corporate anticipates the whole manufacturing scale of the Mirador Part II venture could be 140,000 t/d (46.2 million t/y), of which 80,000 t/d (26.4 million t/y) will come from the southern pit and 60,000 t/d (19.8 million t/y) from the northern part.
Mirador has an anticipated operative mine of 16.9 years — 20 years for the present south pit and about 16 for the northern one.
Final 12 months, EcuaCorriente accomplished designs for the pit, waste dump, plant, entry routes, water assortment dams for the pit and waste dump, sedimentation swimming pools, and the conveyor belt.
Mining was one in every of Ecuador’s high sources of earnings final 12 months, behind gross sales of oil, bananas and shrimp, bringing $3.3 billion to the state’s coffers, information from the Chamber of Mines present. The sector additionally accounted for 51% of overseas funding within the nation in 2023.
Corporations hoping to discover and mine within the Andean nation used to face fierce native opposition. A brand new course of, which incorporates public session, has mitigated that danger.
Standard referendums are actually a essential step for any firm to acquire a mining license in Ecuador. With out them, corporations must wait longer than anticipated to have all permits in place earlier than beginning development of a mine.