Ecuador calls for patience while foreign mining law structure
Thursday April 24, 2008 16:11 GYT

Quito (Reuters) - The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, on Thursday called for patience while foreign mining investors is structured to exploit a law responsibly reserves and increase state income, but the company warned that time is key to their projects.

The exchange of positions that occurred after Ecuador revoked a week ago thousands of supposedly illegal concessions and suspended all activities while exploratory configured a new law governing the sector, currently in the hands of informal miners with poor levels extractive.

Correa assured businesses that the goal is to complete the government approval of a new law in 180 days and that its rules set a framework for a friendly extraction with nature and people, assured executive who attended an appointment with the agent in Quito .

The suspension of exploratory activities "is part of a process that will lead to a new mining law and they need 180 days of tranquillity in order to develop a new law," told Reuters the president of the local subsidiary of Canadian Aurelian Resources, Dominic Channa.

Ecuador has warned that the new law would have some 100 articles and that next week will launch a consultation with industry stakeholders on the reintroduction of royalties and environmental standards railways in relations with the companies that survived the purge of concessions.

Ecuador has a poor production of precious minerals, but dozens of companies, especially Canadians, as Aurelian Resources, Corriente Resources Corp. and Iamgold. are exploring for gold and copper deposits.

"For us it is very important that the 180 days are 180 days," said Channa at the close of the conclave at the presidential palace with Correa, who is a staunch advocate of state intervention in economic areas key to raising resources for its expansive policy social.

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum reported that some 4,474 of the 5,064 existing concessions were revoked, in line with the provision of the Constituent Assembly, which is rewriting the Constitution and which is led by a majority adept at Correa.

The companies reiterated their opposition to Correa by the legislative resolution allegedly directed to rearrange the sector and curb speculation in the concessions, but the new law focuses hopes to undertake their projects.

In addition to quell the unrest of the companies, Correa must neutralize the opposition in the law have shown that officialdom and environmental sectors of the large-scale mining, among other obstacles to the exploitation of reserves valued at about 200,000 million dollars, according official estimates.

"Companies (...) have to respect a legal framework and whether that legal framework will be changed, we have an obligation to participate in those reforms," said Jorge auger, vice president of the Chamber of Mines and manager of Iamgold-Ecuador SA

(By Carlos Andrade Garcia. Edited by Magdalena Morales)