Ecuador residents seek referendum to block mining projects. miningnews
Residents of Ecuador’s capital Quito on Monday delivered hundreds of thousands of signatures to the country’s electoral court in a bid to ban mining in one of the Andean country’s most biodiverse areas.
It is also home to 12% of Ecuador’s plant varieties and an important corridor for Andean bears, as well as a major water source for Quito. However, plans to further develop mining have been disrupted by judicial resolutions and referendums in favor of communities and indigenous peoples, frustrating potential projects.
“We’re not willing to accept the mining companies, we don’t need these companies,” said Fanny Duran, a resident of the rural parish of Pacto, who helped deliver the signatures.