Ecuador and EcuaCorriente in talks about power supply for mine expansion

Ecuador’s government is in talks with EcuaCorriente, the local unit of Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan, on how the company will obtain electricity for the planned expansion of its Mirador copper mine.

The aim is to sign an addendum that will make phase II of the copper concession feasible. This will involve throughput from the Mirador I (south) deposit to 80,000t/d and developing the Mirador Norte pit to produce 60,000t/d to bring the total to 140,000t/d by 2028. Currently, the throughput is about 60,000t/d, while copper concentrate production totaled 575,800t last year.

Deputy mines minister Diego Ocampo told BNamericas that in its contract with the Ecuadoran state, the company committed to building the 138MW Santa Cruz hydroelectric plant in the canton of El Pangui in Zamora Chinchipe province, where Mirador is located.

However, since electric power officials plan to launch bidding for the US$3bn Santiago hydroelectric project, EcuaCorriente asked for permission not to build the Santa Cruz plant, considering that it would be inefficient to have another generator in the area of influence.

When completed, the 2.4GW Santiago plant, which has been in the study phase for 12 years, will be the largest in Ecuador. It will be in Morona Santiago province, bordering Zamora Chinchipe, in the Amazon region.

"Everything seems to indicate that it would not be efficient to have two hydroelectric plants in the same area. If that is the case, the solution has to be an alternative to that hydroelectric plant," said Ocampo.

Options could be gas-fired power, geothermal or other types of energy. According to the deputy minister, the company could even consider a type of rapid thermal energy generation while Santiago is being put into operation.

The official said the country's electrical system is not capable of supplying the power required for the US$600mn Mirador expansion.

Work is underway to properly map the situation, but what is clear is that Mirador must generate its own electricity, not only because of the current electrical emergency in Ecuador but because of its size, and that was foreseen in the contract, Ocampo added.

The official said he hopes to see the signing of the addendum in about two months.