BLOG ENTRY
6 September 2023, 11.22am EDT
Latin America Program Coordinator
A local court in southern Ecuador has ordered Dundee Precious Metals to suspend its mining operations in the páramo de Kimsakocha, upholding the rights of local communities and dealing another blow to Canadian mining interests in the region.
Dundee is attempting to build the “Loma Larga” gold-copper mine in the páramo de Kimsakocha – a high-altitude wetland that plays an essential role in protecting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and maintaining the water supply for tens of thousands of people living in and around the páramo and the nearby city of Cuenca. A recent expert review of Dundee’s plans for the proposed mine found that the project is essentially a “ticking time bomb” for arsenic contamination, with major risks posed by the 5.5 million tons of mine waste Dundee plans to leave permanently exposed on the páramo when the mine’s 12-year life is up.
On Monday, August 28, 2023 the Provincial Court of Azuay announced its decision to uphold an earlier ruling by the Judicial Labour Unit of Cuenca, which had granted Protective Measures to the páramo and suspended Dundee’s mining activities. In July 2022, the Judicial Labour Unit had found in favour of the Federation of Campesino and Indigenous Organizations of Azuay (FOA in Spanish) and communities organized through the Community Water Systems of Tarqui, Victoria del Portete, Girón, and Escaleras, who had filed a complaint against the Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition (MAATE) in February 2022 for allowing mining in such a sensitive ecosystem. The Ministry appealed this ruling – an appeal that has now been denied by the Provincial Court of Azuay, upholding the Protective Measures and suspension of Dundee’s activities.
In the court’s ruling, it finds that the Ecuadorian government and Canadian company failed to consult with affected communities. This decision comes just two weeks after residents of Quito voted to prohibit mining in Quito’s neighbouring forest, a UN-designated biodiversity hotspot , and ban oil exploration in the Amazon basin area’s Yasuni National Park.
Similar to the 2022 court ruling, Dundee Precious Metals is again attempting to minimize the importance of the decision and twist the sentence’s main finding. In a press release, the company claims that it “receiv[ed] court decision that reaffirms its Ecuador mining concession.” Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca, an urban environmentalist collective from Cuenca, calls Dundee’s response to the sentence “colonialist cynicism disguised as diplomacy.” In a statement, the organization says, “Girón and Cuenca already banned mining exploitation in the páramos de Kimsakocha through two popular referendums…We are determined to defend our páramos and enforce our sovereign decisions.”
News Ecuador-Canada Free Trade Agreement: a new attack on communities, Indigenous peoples, and the environment 01.03.2023
News Independent Study Confirming Serious Risks with Loma Larga: Coverage in the Financial Post 07.10.2022
News A Ticking Time Bomb: Independent Review Reveals Serious Risks at Proposed Loma Larga Mine 29.09.2022
Blog Entry Key Victory for Water Defenders in Southern Ecuador Against Canadian Mining 14.07.2022
SOURCE: https://miningwatch.ca/blog/2023/9/6/ecuadorian-court-suspends-dundee-precious-metals-operations
See also: “Accumulation by Dispossession” by the Global Extractive Industry: The Case of Canada
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