Still think INV Metals (INV.to) at Loma Larga or the Chinese capital Rio Blanco project close by have a chance of happening, despite that local referendum in the Girón canton that went 87% against mining? Allow your humble scribe to do a little translation for you. From this report in Ecuador’s national daily paper, La Hora:
Yaku Pérez, prefect of Azuay, announced that in the first session of the Provincial Council due to sit in the next 15 days, a petition will be presented to request a “Popular Consultancy” (referendum) to “prohibit mining at water sources not just in a municipality, but over the whole of the province of Azuay.”After approval from the local council, the proposal goes to the Constitutional Court and the CNE (National Electoral Council). “By the ned of this month we could be calling on the citizens (of Azuay) to vote”, he added.He also said that, “In fact our position is categorical; At water sources, páramos, marshes and areas of water displacement, no type of minn. Not small, not medium, not mega, neither formal or informal.”