Quito (EFE).- The president of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Mining (CME), María Eulalia Silva, assured that the popular consultation to prohibit mining in the Chocó Andino, a biosphere reserve located within the metropolitan area of Quito and considered a “paradise” by its inhabitants, it will not solve the environmental threats of this natural enclave.
Silva explained in an interview with EFE that the veto on legal mining in that 124,296-hectare territory located northwest of the Ecuadorian capital will encourage the entry of illegal mining, which is the one that has no respect for the environment.
“In a country where a formal and responsible, standardized and traceable industry cannot continue, what they are doing is opening the doors wide to illegal mining,” Silva said about the plebiscite promoted by the environmental group “Quito Sin Minería ” which will be voted on August 20, the same day as the extraordinary general elections.
“Far from facing the environmental threats of the Andean Chocó, it is shielding that area from new responsible investments. We cannot take responsibility for what happens with illegal mining,” he added.
Gold or water, an “unfounded” dilemma
Likewise, he considered that “we must get that chip out of our heads that they have unfoundedly put into us that we must choose between gold and water, or between mining and conservation.”
“With responsible mining, it is not necessary to choose. You can have both,” said Silva, who recalled that if the “Yes” vote is won in the popular consultation, this will not affect the twelve concessions currently granted in the area, including one for large-scale mining that is in ” a very preliminary phase of exploration”.
Silva explained that, in the event that the exploration of that concession was successful and it was decided to build a mine, it would only occupy a small portion of the entire concession and the rest would be maintained, and once completed the entire intervened space would be reforested.
“While, along the way, a large part of the concession was preserved, and (…) a lot of development was brought to the area,” said Silva, who gave the southern province of Zamora Chinchipe as an example, which since 2019 has been home to the two mines on a large scale that Ecuador has, and of which he pointed out that its poverty index has been reduced by thirteen points in the last two years.
“That is why it is very important that in other districts such as the Chocó Andino the possibility is not closed, and our message is precisely that, because the environment is important, we must say ‘No’ (to the prohibition),” he continued.
Canada and Australia as benchmarks
As benchmarks in responsible industrial mining, he mentioned Canada and Australia, “countries that have a developed economy based on mining, which has generated other industries, have preserved natural areas and also their ancestral peoples.”
He also argued the need for legal certainty for an industry where, sometimes, it takes between fifteen and eighteen years to be able to extract the first gram of mineral, between exploration, permits and construction, especially when in 2018 there was already a national consultation. to prohibit mining in urban centers and protected and intangible areas.
For Silva, this new consultation “what it creates is anxiety and legal uncertainty, and what it does least is attract quality investment, rather what it may be generating is an incentive for illegal mining.”
The consultation also takes place at the best moment of the mining industry in Ecuador, which last year registered a historical record of exports with 2,775 million dollars, thanks mainly to the contribution of the gold mining company Fruta del Norte and the copper mining company Mirador, the two large mines located in Zamora Chinchipe.
An untapped potential
Likewise, he cited a study by the Spurrier Group that last year estimated at 176,000 million dollars the exports that the twelve most advanced mining projects in the country would bring to Ecuador in the next thirty years, with 44,000 million dollars in taxes and 21,000 million in foreign investment.
“It is deciding what development model we Ecuadorians want. We have a lot of needs, but also a lot of opportunities and resources that are essential”, commented Silva.
“We cannot decide to live without minerals, even more so in the middle of the energy matrix where minerals are needed, such as electric cars, which require four times more copper than a normal vehicle. (…) Therefore, if we are really interested in the environment, we should not give way to this ban ”, he concluded.