News

August 19, 2008

Corriente Resources Sits Astride One Of The Biggest Undeveloped Copper Belts In The World, And Is Ready To Move To Production

By Charles Wyatt

When money talks, politicians listen. …in the end. This is borne out by taking a look at the way successive UK political parties have given honours to donors to party funds. In mining it works two ways. When producers appear to be making too much money as a result of high metal prices, politicians want a bigger slice of the action through royalties or tax, as in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Zambia. Conversely when politicians find themselves hoist by their own party dictats and taxes from mining slow to a dribble, they soon find a way to get things moving again. In Ecuador it is mining that has slowed to a dribble while companies await a new mining law, that’s been promised since soon after President Rafael Correa came to power at the beginning of 2007.

As a result of this delay there was a gap exploited by Ms Joan Kuyek from an NGO called Mining Watch Canada, which generates its income by being against mining in any form. Unfortunately Ms Kuyek neglected to tell the local tribes what she was doing – or underrated their intelligence - and was sent home with her tail between her legs when they demanded amid much publicity that her NGO pump money into their region on a similar scale to that expected from Corriente Resources’ Mirador copper...