MELBOURNE, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Ecuador plans to ship its first large copper cargo within weeks, a milestone in its ambitions to evolve from exploration hotspot to copper exporter.
The El Mirador copper mine, owned by a unit of the Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan, started operations in July but the the company imposed some restrictions in October as a precautionary measure to protect workers amid unrest over the government’s austerity plan.
The company has resumed normal operations and was readying its first shipment for Nov. 14, Vice Minister of Mines Fernando Benalcazar told Reuters on the sidelines of the Imarc mining conference in Melbourne.
“Initially we planned to have it done by the end of this month. They have already stockpiled 30,000 tonnes. It will be the first time we have a larger scale exportation going out,” he said.
Ecuador, an Andean country neighbouring the world’s No. 2 copper producer Peru, has large mineral reserves but is only beginning to develop industrial-scale mining projects.
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