{"id":1159500,"date":"2020-01-13T06:07:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T12:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1011092"},"modified":"2020-01-13T06:07:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T12:07:17","slug":"ecuador-court-casts-doubts-on-mining-projects-future-allows-public-referendums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1159500","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador court casts doubts on mining projects future, allows public referendums"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ecuador\u2019s constitutional court has ruled that communities<br \/>\nhave the right to hold public referendums on whether or not to allow a mining<br \/>\nproject to go forward, paving the way for opposition to future developments.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The ruling comes after the court analyzed three decisions made last year on the topic, including one that rejected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/solgolds-shares-crater-possible-mining-referendum-ecuador\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">requests to vote on the future<\/a> of SolGold\u2019s (LON, TSX:SOLG) flagship copper and gold Cascabel project \u2014 set to become one of Ecuador\u2019s biggest mines.<\/p>\n<p>The fresh verdict, local paper <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elcomercio.com\/actualidad\/corte-constitucional-consultas-mineria-azuay.html\" ><em>El Comercio<\/em> reported<\/a>, concluded that there was no clear and express prohibition in the country&#8217;s constitution against undertaking popular votes about mining. It also noted that citizens are guaranteed participation in deciding socio-economic matters, particularly when they have a clear effect on the environment. <\/p>\n<p>The legal challenge communities face now is to frame a referendum\u2019s question in a legitimate way. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/solgolds-projects-safe-after-ecuador-courts-rejects-mining-referendum\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">three attempts to hold public consultations last year failed<\/a> because they did not guarantee the voters\u2019 \u201cfull freedom to choose\u201d nor did they stick to the terms of Ecuador\u2019s Constitution, the high court said.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution represents a victory for the southern<br \/>\nprovince of Azuay,&nbsp;which is once again asking to make mining permits<br \/>\nsubject to popular approval.<\/p>\n<p>The area hosts several projects, including Canada\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2020\/01\/08\/1967608\/0\/en\/Inv-Metals-Provides-Update.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"INV Metals\u2019 (TSX-V: INV) Loma Larga (opens in a new tab)\">INV Metals\u2019 (TSX-V: INV) Loma Larga<\/a> gold, silver and copper project and SolGold\u2019s Sharug project, which the miner believes has considerable potential for the discovery of a world-class orebody. <\/p>\n<p>Ecuador has gained ground as a mining investment destination in the past two years, but opposition to the extraction of the country\u2019s resources could thwart the government\u2019s plan to attract $3.7 billion in mining investments over the next two years. That\u2019s significantly up from the $270 million it received in 2018. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Constitutional Court has ruled that popular votes about mining issues are possible, paving the way for opposition to future developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,369],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1159500"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159624,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159500\/revisions\/1159624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1159500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1159500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1159500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}