UPDATE 1-Ecuador halts Canada's Corriente project activity
Mon May 28, 2007 2:13pm
yahoo.reuters.com
(Adds ministry official comments and details)
QUITO, May 28 (Reuters) - Ecuador rejected Corriente Resources Inc.'s (CTQ.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) (ETQ.A: Quote, Profile , Research) environmental plan for its Mirador copper-gold project and on Monday ordered the Canadian company to halt all activity related to the project.
"This means that the Mirador project cannot be carried out and all activities have to be suspended," the mining ministry said in a statement.
"We view this notice from the ministry as just an update on a regular part of the permitting process and we continue to have all our paperwork in place as part of the regular project development and we will respond to the concerns that the ministry has, if any, on our EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) request, but we are just in the process of getting some clarification to the ministry to what those concerns are," Ken Shannon, chief executive at Corriente Resources, said.
Corriente had already delayed the start of production of the project after the government suspended mining activities in the region in response to protests by local villagers who said the work would pollute their communities.
But the ministry said Monday's suspension extended to activities such as advertising of the project and work on community relations.
"The company can appeal the decision." the ministry's environmental protection chief Lucia Ruiz told Reuters. "But they did not meet our environmental requirements." (Additional reporting by Scott Anderson) |
