The Imbabura provincial court said a 2014 environmental license and other permissions given for the Llurimagua project, which is in the advanced exploration phase, do not comply with proper parameters. "What the ruling determines is that all mining activity in the area is halted until the standards defined by the constitutional court are complied with," said lawyer Carlos Varela. "We understand the companies which benefit from the license and the concession must stop their activities." ENAMI had no immediate comment and directed inquiries to the energy ministry. Neither the energy nor environmental ministries offered immediate reaction. Codelco, which sued Ecuador in 2021 in a separate case for discrepancies at Llurimagua, also had no immediate comment. Ecuador is home to abundant mineral resources, but development of its mining sector remains well behind that of countries like Chile and Peru because of court rulings and resistance from indigenous communities. The government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso has pledged to increase mining development to aid the struggling economy. Mining exports grew 32.6% last year to $2.77 billion. The area around the Llurimagua project is home to a rare species of frog previously thought extinct, said Andrea Teran, a biologist specializing in amphibians. Twenty-two of the 34 species of amphibians which live in the area are considered threatened, she added. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, additional reporting by Alexander Villegas in Santiago, Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb)
QUITO, April 5 (Reuters) - A court has ruled that
Ecuador failed to give local communities in a highly biodiverse
province their right to an environmental consultation on a joint
copper mining venture by state-run ENAMI and a subsidiary of
Chile's Codelco, lawyers for the communities said on Wednesday,
and the project must be suspended.
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