300 áreas ya están solicitadas en concesión y serán entregadas al
"mejor postor" en octubre y diciembre.
La mitad del territorio de Morona Santiago estaría en riesgo de quedar
en manos de extranjeros, según una nota de Mining Journal: "La mayoría de
las concesiones solicitadas hasta la fecha son de oro y cobre. Uno de los
primeros en adoptar el sistema es geólogo Keith Barron quien descubrió el proyecto
Fruta del Norte Lundin Gold planea convertirse en una mina de oro. Barron ha
solicitado concesiones que cubre aproximadamente la mitad de la provincia de
Morona-Santiago en el país." (Vea el artículo de Mining Jornal al final de esta nota haciendo click aquí).
Javier Córdova, Ministro de las
Mineras en Ecuador, envía mensajes positivos a los inversionistas desde
Toronto, Canadá, la meca de la inversión minera mundial. Les dice en una
palabra que no se preocupen por lo que diga o deje de decir la Constitución, al
fin quién hace caso de ella: "Bajo ciertas circunstancias del mercado, y
después de muchos años de producción, puede llegar un punto en que el gobierno
recibe más beneficio económico de una empresa. Pero, hasta entonces, la tasa de
impuestos es competitivo y en el rango de otros países de la región"
Exactamente como lo había manifestado el Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de
la Pachamama, la payasada de inauguración de Río Blanco el pasado 11 de agosto,
tuvo entre sus objetivos enviar señales positivas a los inversionistas una vez
que el territorio ecuatoriano fue puesto a subasta. Córdova: "Dentro de
los próximos 12 meses queremos una industria minera en el pleno desarrollo de
grandes proyectos mineros en la construcción. Fruta del Norte debe estar en
construcción, Mirador estará en construcción, Río Blanco debe estar en la
producción, Metales INV debe estar bien avanzada con su estudio de viabilidad y
la exploración debería haber reiniciado"
Y claro la especulación en la bolsa minera, hace que suban las acciones
de las empresas con estas señales positivas, así siguen ganando aunque aún no
comiencen a explotar los minerales. Un negocio redondo para los invasores
extranjeros y sus lacayos nacionales.
¿Y el pueblo ecuatoriano?, ¿no tiene nada qué decir? Resulta que
"el soberano" sale sobrando en este negocio. Se entrega el
"suelo patrio" para el saqueo minero y los que estamos viviendo esos
territorios ni nos enteramos. Embobados con el show electoral, las grandes
mayorías dormitan mientras este minúsculo grupo de vendepatrias nos endeuda,
venden y revenden.
Qué pasó con la Consulta Previa, la autodeterminación, los Derechos de
la Naturaleza, y toda la demás palabrería que pusieron en la Constitución estos
redomados vendepatrias de Alizana País y los que le secundaron en eso.
Cuánta razón hay en esta consigna:
GOBIERNO
VENDEPATRIA
GOBIERNO ENTREGUISTA
GOBIERNO DE CORREA
PROIMPERIALISTA
GOBIERNO ENTREGUISTA
GOBIERNO DE CORREA
PROIMPERIALISTA
Ecuador to resume exploration focus
Ecuador plans to start awarding exploration concessions after a hiatus of some six years, mines minister Javier Cordova told Mining Journal at the Mines and Money Americas conference in Toronto, Canada.
The country has developed a concession cadastre that allows companies to select areas and start the application process online. To date, over 300 areas have been requested. The first concessions will be granted in October and, by December, Ecuador expects to have awarded over 300, according to Cordova.
Ecuador will use a ‘Swiss Challenge’ system to award exploration concessions whereby once a company has requested an area, the system will issue a general notification that the area has been requested and provide a time window for other parties to make a counter offer. If an improved counter offer is received, the party originally interested will have an opportunity to beat it.
“There is a legal limitation that means we cannot directly deliver a concession and there has to be a bidding process. I think we will eventually change this law. However, we want to reward those companies that take the initiative to study and request an area and so the time window for a challenge is limited and the initial company has the chance to beat any subsequent offer,” he said.
The majority of concessions requested to date are for gold and copper. One of the early adopters of the system is geologist Keith Barron who discovered the Fruta del Norte project Lundin Gold plans to develop into a gold mine. Barron has requested concessions covering roughly half of Morona-Santiago province in the country.
Cordova said it is uncertain, at this point, whether state mining company Enami will be able to request more concessions given it does not have the financial capacity to take them on. He also said any concessions returned to the government by an explorer will not necessarily go to Enami, but go back into the cadastre.
Risk
The minister is aware many investors still view Ecuador as a risky jurisdiction despite the positive changes to its mining policy in recent years. The treatment of Kinross Gold at Fruta del Norte, which led to the gold major exiting the country in 2013, has not been forgotten.
However, Cordova said the government is working diligently to counter this observation and is being helped by high-profile investments putting the country back on the map.
“Without a doubt there still exists the wrong perception of risk in the country, and it is understandable as we have come out of a difficult time. But the reality versus the perception is very different," he said.
"That is why it was important for us to sign the agreement for Fruta del Norte. For Lundin to close this agreement and start to build the mine shows that conditions are good for investors to come in."
Cordova said many people were fixated on the constitution stipulation that states a mining company cannot earn more from a project than the government and fail to understand the taxation mechanism the state developed with advice from Wood Mackenzie.
“Under certain market circumstances, and after many years of production, there may come a point where the government receives more economic benefit than a company. But, until then, the taxation rate is competitive and in the range of other countries in the region,” he said.
This explains why Lundin Gold estimated its net taxation rate will be 29% at Fruta del Norte and INV Metals, which is developing Loma Larga, estimated it as being somewhere between 30-40%.
At the start of 2016, Lundin Gold signed a taxation stability agreement with the government and, mid-year, it signed an agreement that allowed the project to pass from the exploration to exploitation phase. Cordova expects the company to be issued with an environment permit in October that will pave the way for the company to start construction in 2017.
“Within the next 12 months we want a mining industry in the full development with large mining projects in construction. Fruta del Norte should be in construction, Mirador will be in construction, Rio Blanco should be in production, INV Metals should be well advanced with its feasibility study and exploration should have restarted,” he said.
This is being reflected in market appreciation for these Ecuador-focused companies.
Since the start of the year, Lundin Gold’s stock has risen 45%; Odin Mining, Ross Beaty’s Ecuador exploration vehicle, is up 141%; INV Metals is up 618%; and Solgold, in which Newcrest Mining has just taken a 10% stake, is up 461%.
***********************************
¡POR EL
DERECHO A DEFENDER NUESTROS DERECHOS
Y A LA
MADRE TIERRA!
COMISION DE COMUNICACIÓN DEL
FRENTE DE MUJERES DEFENSORAS DE LA PACHAMAMA
Contáctenos
en FACEBOOK: @defensoras.delapachamama
También
en TWITTER: @DefensorasPacha
Y
en YOUTUBE: DefensorasPachamama
GROUP OF COMMUNICATION OF THE
WOMEN DEFENDERS OF THE PACHAMAMA FRONT
Also on
TWITTER: @DefensorasPacha
And on
YOUTUBE: DefensorasPachamama
COMMISSION DES COMMUNICATIONS DU
FRONT DES FEMMES DÉFENSEURES DE LA PACHAMAMA
Aussi sur Twitter : @DefensorasPacha
YOUTUBE: DefensorasPachamama
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario