Complaints Over Mining Concessions In The Province Of El Oro, Ecuador

ECUADOR

Complaints Over Mining Concessions in the province of El Oro, Ecuador

10th March 2006

by Freddy Macas, El Universo, Guayaquil, Ecuador

In the Province of El Oro there are about 400 mining concessions, of which only about 25% have approved Environmental Impact studies among other requirements.

Among the zones which produce the most gold are the deposits of the cantones Zaruma, Piñas and Protovelo. But the problem that nearby communities face is the contamination produced by the exploitation of the mineral.

According to a complaint filed before the Office of Mining by the Mayor of Santa Rosa, Celemente Bravo, the mining concession El Guayabo, located in Cerro Pelado of the parish of Torata, is dumping contaminated materials into the river Santa Rosa, a river which is a source of drinking water and a bottling plant.

The spokesperson for drinking water company of Santa Rosa, Mario León, asked the director of Mining in El Oro, Luis Morocho, to make an inspection of the area because the water that the drinking water company uses comes from the river barely 200 meters from the entrance of the mine.