The actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio raised his voice, via Instagram, against a mining project of the National Copper Corporation (Codelco) in Ecuador.
Specifically, it is about the Llurimagua Mine where the state copper company – in alliance with the National Mining Company (Enami) of Ecuador – seeks to take over the operation, for the first time in its history, of a deposit abroad.
Estimates calculate the existence of 318 million tons of ore with an average grade of 0.71% copper and 0.026% molybdenum.
The initiative is criticized locally, is going through legal proceedings in Ecuador and is currently undergoing arbitration before the World Bank, promoted by the national giant.
Why bother with the Coldelco idea?
The Llurimagua Mine would be located in the Intag Valley, home to a rich biodiversity of plants and animals that could be impacted by the irruption of mining activity.
DiCaprio affirmed that the local communities are “deeply connected” with that natural enclave and gave as an example the opposition to mining by local leaders such as Cenaida Guachagmira, a young activist who wants to keep the Intag Valley as undisturbed as possible.
“If the Llurimagua mine project falls, it could help protect a key area for biodiversity in the tropical Andes,” DiCaprio stressed.
The Intag Valley is in the north of Ecuador, within the province of Imbabura, and is considered an area of enormous biodiversity that is home to thousands of species, many of them endemic and under threat of extinction, such as the brown-headed spider monkey and the long-snouted harlequin frog, which was believed to be extinct until 2016.
judicial messes
Codelco’s project plans were validated months ago by a judgewho considered that the prior consultation rights of the local communities had not been violated.
The magistrate’s decision is pending review by the Provincial Court of Justice of the province of Imbabura.
The hearing was rescheduled for last Wednesday, where the communities of the Intag Valley insisted on the protection action demanded to stop the mining project.
Since the end of 2021, the project has been the subject of international arbitration promoted by Codelco at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The reason? The copper company requires Ecuador’s Enami to meet the deadlines stipulated in the agreement between the two public companies.