Ecuadorian miner Enami EP is selling its 51pc share of the Llurimagua copper project—the other 49pc of which of is owned by Chilean firm Codelco.
Codelco is not interested in buying Enami’s share, according to media reports.
Neither Enami EP nor Codelco responded to Davis index’s queries on the matter by publication time.
The copper project, located about 80 km northeast of Quito, Ecuador’s capital, has a resource of 982mn mt of 0.89pc copper and 0.04pc molybdenum, according to figures from the Ecuadorian government.
At the end of May, Ecuador resumed its mining operations after activity was halted for more than two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ecuadorian government estimates that after resumption of mining operations, its mineral exports will reach between $642mn and $1.1bn this year, and will restore 33,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect more positions.