Judge dismisses legal action against Ecuador's US$300mn Curipamba project

A judge in Bolívar province dismissed legal action that sought to stop the US$300mn Curipamba polymetallic project, which is set to become Ecuador's third industrial-scale mine.

The project is operated by Canadian companies Adventus Mining and Salazar Resources.

The two industrial-scale mines in operation in the country are the Fruta del Norte gold mine and the Mirador copper operation. 

During a hearing on Wednesday, judge Segundo Holger García directly refuted the claims of the plaintiffs and said the environmental consultation, carried out by the environment ministry, complied with all rules and ensured the right of communities to participate in the process.

The plaintiffs, around 30 residents of three rural communities in Las Naves canton backed by a human rights organization, filed the legal action in June, demanding the court nullify the environmental impact study and revoke the environmental license, without which construction could not start.

But the plaintiffs also announced their intention to appeal the ruling. An appeal would be processed by Bolívar's provincial court, which could take four months, and even reach the constitutional court in the last instance.

Both parties will be officially notified of the ruling in the coming weeks.

Juan Francisco Guerrero, a lawyer for Curimining, a local subsidiary of Salazar Resources, told BNamericas that the ruling means the environmental license is not affected and plans toward construction will proceed.

"It has been shown that the environmental consultation process guaranteed broad citizen participation. It was also evident that the environmental consultation not only complied with all the standards of the constitutional court and international instruments but even exceeded them," Guerrero said.

Environmental consultation allows citizens to provide input on decisions that may affect them, and while it does not include a veto right, it provides for compensation, if necessary.

The consultation took place between July and December last year and involved personal invitations, social network posts, radio spots and other ways to enable participation.

Guerrero said that even residents from outside the area of influence participated, "so it was an absolutely inclusive process, which used not just one permitted means of information, but all of them."

García found that those who did not participate did so because they were not interested, not because they were excluded.

CURIPAMBA

The medium-scale Curipamba project comprises seven concessions covering 21,500ha, including the El Domo deposit, which hosts mainly copper and gold, but also zinc, silver and lead.

It is planned to operate for 10 years as an open pit and another five years as an underground mine.

Over the last 17 years, some 70,000m have been drilled and around US$100mn invested.

According to data from the operators, proven and probable open pit reserves total 6.5Mt, with grades of 1.93% copper, 2.52g/t gold, 46g/t silver, 2.49% zinc and 0.2% lead.

The licensing process began in November 2021 and ended in January.

As part of the environmental license, 50 surface water quality monitoring points were established, and 20 groundwater monitoring points, and 100 flow and 50 discharge measurements, among other aspects, were carried out.