Ecuador Mining News Mid April
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On to the news...
Country News
Lasso Elected President
The candidate who is probably best for the country and who is also in favor of responsible mining won. Considering just before the first round of voting in February some market commentators were predicting Yaku Perez would be president we've come a long way. Time to pour a glass from the top shelf tonight.
In Water Perception Still Stronger Than Reality
At the end of February we talked about perceived water issues in Santa Rosa that weren't caused by mining but were being blamed on mining.
Well, the saga continues. Torta Mining, who Challenger Exploration owns a stake in and has the right to acquire 100%, has a property called El Guyabo. El Guyabo 225 got called out in a youtube video with 150 views, with the author of the video saying he was trying to get the mining license revoked and is talking to the mayor and the governor. Torta mining responded in the mining press with an article that has 28 views, 4 of them from me. Nobody cares about a video with 150 views, but this fits a growing pattern of unease in Ecuador over potential water pollution from mining, which is what led to the Cuenca exclusion zone.
Speaking of which, I saw a map of the Cuenca exclusion zone. It's about what you'd expect except I just realized the Norcay river and associated watershed are on the other side of the continental divide from Cuenca. It's still in Azuay province, but this was a city referrendum and the water goes away from the city not towards it.
Ecuador has $400 million in Foreing Direct Investment in Mining
For those keeping score at home that's 40% of foreign direct investment for the country. Not bad for a pandemic year.
Company News
Titan Sells Zaruma Mine & Plant
The Zaruma mine has a long history that ended with the owning company running it losing money as the veins got too narrow to mine efficiently and with too little volume to feed the large plant. The plant seems to be a fairly modern CIL plant that was operating not to long ago. Prior to Titan taking over Dynasty Gold trucked open pit ore over 100 miles to the Zaruma plant, but didn't mine there.
Now a new player emerges. Pelorus will pay $15 million USD to Titan for the mine and plant. They plan to list on the London Stock exchange next year.
Aurania Convinces me I'm not a Geologist
A possible reason why there is epithermal veining and pathfinder minerals at surface but not gold. Could this mean more gold at depth or just a curious bit of geology, time will tell. At least that's what I got out of it. If you are a geologist could you help me out?
Aurania also reports more grab samples and channel samples at Tiria Shimpia. Surface work is hard in the jungle, so the grade in soil, rock chips, and channel samples is more about targeting where to drill than what the drill will find. That said, it's interesting there was a 1m sample that had 39% zinc. The average mined grade for zinc mines is around 6% for lead/zinc combined. As I look at the other numbers from their surface work the zinc numbers seem more impressive than the silver. Maybe we need WallStreetBets Redditors to jump on the galvinization bandwagon instead of the silver bandwagon.
Adventus & Salazar Haven't forgotten about Pijili
With El Domo / Curipamba advaincing to Feasability Study, Adventus would like to remind us it has other exploration properties.
Salazar Updates On Exploration Activity
Salazar is methodically advancing its 100% owned projects.
Interesting Presentations
INV Metals Updates it's corporate presentation - A lot of environmental focus now seems a bit like closing the gate after the cows left the barn.
Disclosures
Of the companies mentioned in this article I have long positions in Salazar and Aurania that were purchased in the public markets. I have not received any compensation or special access to private placements from any of the companies discussed.