The discovery of copper in Intag was part of a larger survey called PRODEMINCA, which was funded by a US$14 million loan from the World Bank. BHP Billiton is not the first company to attempt exploitation of copper in this megadiverse areas. However, Intag’s communities are fiercely opposed to open pit mining have rejected two international mining companies in the past.
Mitsubishi Corporation (1993-1997)
The Intag copper deposit was discovered in the early 1990s by Bishimetals, a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation. The discovery of copper in Intag was part of a larger survey called PRODEMINCA, which was funded by a US$14 million loan from the World Bank. By 1995 early stages of mining ‘exploration’ had begun in Intag, and with it contamination of a river just above the community of Junin.
The same year concerned Inteños began organize their opposition to the threat mining posed to their environment and way of life.
In 1997 community members, frustrated by a lack of government regulation or advocacy, took to civil disobedience as way to expel the company. It is important to note that particularly during that time period civil disobedience was a common way to gain concessions for under-represented rural communities in Andean Latin America. On May 5, 1997 local community members and the county mayor burned the mining encampment to the ground. Sensitive to their international reputation, Bishimetals, quickly left Ecuador.
Ascendant Copper Corporation (2004-2006)
The people of Intag were engaged in a second conflict between 2004 and 2006, this time with a Canadian mining corporation called Ascendant Copper.The company also began exploratory work despite having failed to gain approval for an Environmental Impact Study. Human rights violations by company employees, culminated in an invasion of community land by illegally-armed paramilitaries in May 2006 (see video below ). After assessing the situation the Minister of Energy and Mines ultimately revoked Ascendant’s concession, banned them from the country, and upheld a general amnesty for environmental defenders.
BHP Billiton (2018- ?)
BHP Billiton were awarded the “Santa Theresa” Mining Concession in Intag in 2018, during a time when top member’s of Ecuador’s government accused accused of graft and corruption related to large development projects. Furthermore many civil society groups have argued that their the recent wave of concessions, which BHP’s is part of, violates prior consultation, a right under the Ecuadorian constitution.
To this day there are no open pit mines in Ecuador and while many concessions have been granted in recent years, there remains widespread opposition to large mining projects within ecuador.
