Ecuador declared a nationwide emergency and temporarily shut mining activities after a sharp increase of Covid-19 cases in the country. Ecuador’s Covid-19 cases were at 1,882, the second-highest in Latin America.
Many Canada-based miner in Ecuador including Cornerstone Capital Resources, Adventus Mining and Salazar Resources suspended mining activities. Cornerstone Capital halted mining at Cascabel copper-gold project to control the spread of the virus. The company has also halted mining at its Chile operations.
Toronto-based company, Adventus Mining Corporation and Salazar Resources have temporarily shut mining activities at their Curipamba, Pijili and Santiago projects. Work at these sites will restart when deemed safe by the government authorities. Both Adventus and Salazar stated that they can self-fund an extended care and maintenance scenario on the projects well into 2021 if required.
Ecuador is moving forward to be a mining exporter country soon. The country’s first large scale copper mine exported a large cargo of copper in November 2019.