Higher Polytechnic School of the Coast

Faculty of Engineering in Earth Sciences

MINING PROJECT EL MIRADOR

Developed in the canton of El Pangui (Tundayme), province of Zamora Chinchipe, 10 km east of the river.
Zamora, on the slopes of the Cordillera del Cóndor, is one of the five mining projects.
strategic of the country. Initially, the mining project included geological and geochemical mapping of
sediments from streams, soil geochemistry, rock geochemistry, and about 56 thousand meters to
Diamantina in 212 wells in the different drilling phases, obtaining final results as follows
feasible economic, environmental, and social variables.
Geologically, the predominant rock in this concession is the granite from the Zamora Batholith, which is of Late Jurassic age.
with marine sedimentary and volcanic rock outcrops from the Misahuallí unit of the Jurassic
Late and rocks of the Piuntza formation with Triassic age. The El Mirador Mining Project is a system
mineralized porphyry type with the presence of copper-gold, located in the south of a magmatic strip
hydrothermal known as the Copper Belt, where there are 4 deposits with 2070 million
tons of mineral, which contains 11.5 million tons of copper, placing us among the 10 countries
copper exporters, and the project's lifespan would extend for the next 100 years.

El Mirador has a copper deposit of over 6 billion pounds, with a presence of 3.2.
millions of ounces of gold and 25 million ounces of silver, with extraction in a uniform manner
staircase that starts at the elevation of 1700 m down to the elevation of 975 m over the next 30 years, which is the period
exploitation, its estimated production is 60 thousand tons per day. The mining project is in charge of the
Chinese capital company Ecuacorriente S.A. that has committed 1.4 billion dollars for
the construction of the mine, the processing plant, and access bridges to initiate the phase of
extraction. The mine operation will begin in May 2018, at the processing plant, processing and
they will classify the minerals to obtain copper concentrate and achieve an estimated production of
20 million tons of copper per year, equivalent to 30 thousand tons daily for the first 5 years for
gradually reach 60 thousand tons of copper mined per day, generating around a thousand
jobs and with an estimated 200 billion dollars. The processed mineral will be taken to
Puerto Cobre, port annexed to Puerto Bolívar in the city of Machala.

The project promises to carry out large-scale mining responsibly, with an exploitation system.
which has 5 routes, infrastructure routes open for the quarries, dumps, ditches, channels
collectors, acid drainage control dam, explosives preparation plant, among others. The
benefit system, has a processing plant and tailings dam, as well as infrastructure for the
personal, 230 kV transmission line that comes from Taday, province of Cañar.
The mine design uses 600 million tons of ore with a grade of 0.5% copper ore.
which contains around 3 million tons of copper, explorations are currently being conducted
advanced at the Mirador Norte where the economic benefits of the project would be doubled. Water is
a problem, without pollution of the water resource considering the magnitude of the project.

FRUIT OF THE NORTH PROJECT

Located in the El Cóndor mountain range in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, it is part of the 5 projects.
largest miners in the country, covering approximately 5,000 hectares. The deposit was discovered in the
2005 by Ecuadorian geologists. The FDN deposit is of the metallogenic type of gold and copper.
mineralization is housed within volcanic rocks of Jurassic age belonging to the
Training Misahuallí. The eastern and western limits are defined by two faults that together form
part of the Bonza-Las Peñas fault system believed to control gold and silver mineralization. The area
The faults of the Peñas are an important component of the FDN mineralized system along the
Cordillera del Cóndor, being epithermal deposits and some mesothermal ones. It is believed along the area.
The left-lateral shear fault led to the development of a pull-apart basin where FDN was deposited. The basin
pull-apart Suárez is full of epiclastic conglomerates, volcanoclastic materials, and some tuffs and lavas.
belonging to the Suárez Formation. This type of mineralization is classified as a deposit of
intermediate epithermal sulfurization based on the dominance of sulfides, usually given by multiphases of
quartz-sulfides with some presence of carbonates in stockwork and brecciation. The alteration
hydrothermal mainly consists of a silica (quartz, chalcedony) -illite-pyrite (± marcasite)-
association of carbonates mineral association formed by relatively low acidity fluids. Large part
the gold is 'free milling', but the mineralization is moderately hard, with approximately the
40% of the gold is locked in sulfides. However, visible gold is common. Individual grains of gold go
from discrete spots <0.1 mm to branching crystals > 10 mm in diameter.

The Canadian company Lundin Gold conducted feasibility studies until June 2016 and will be responsible for
manage environmental and technical permits during the exploration and exploitation phase. Records are kept
meticulously through diamond drilling witnesses. Largest gold project in Ecuador,
with estimated reserves of 4.8 million ounces of gold and 15 million ounces of silver and 18 years
estimated productive life; It has an estimated capital cost, including contingency, of $669
millions, net of tax. The average annual gold production is 340,000 ounces (LOM) with a
total cash cost of $553/oz. During the initial 13 years, there will be an average recovery of
gold of 91.7% and silver of 81.5%. The first gold production is expected in the first quarter of 2020,
with the first year of full production in 2021.

The project's economy at a gold price of $1,250 per ounce and silver at a price of $20 per ounce gave
as a result the following:

Before taxes After the tax

Net present value at a discount rate of 5% (NPV5) NPV $1.283 million of $676 million
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 23.8% 15.7%
Capital investment recovery (years) 3.7 4.5
Congüime Mining Project

Around 120 people from the Shuar Congüime Center, in the Nuevo Quito parish, in Zamora.
Chinchipe will benefit directly and indirectly from the new operating contract that the Company
National Mining Company (Enami EP) signed with the Tsamaraint Mining Society.
The small-scale mining project Río Congüime, located in the cantons of Paquisha and Nangaritza, is in charge of
The state mining company is carrying out the phase of alluvial gold exploitation.
The beneficiaries have acquired the necessary equipment to develop small-scale mining for exploitation.
with support and advice from Enami EP technicians, in a socially responsible mining process
and environmental.
This is the second exploitation front with the Shuar people. The Kenkuim Kurinunka Association, which
63 families are integrated to operate the first exploitation front in an inclusive policy of the state mining company.
with the sectors that have mineral potential.
For this year, the Congüime project is expected to generate 120 direct jobs, benefiting
from the Shuar community, through the sustained increase of production on three fronts
work.
As a result of mining activity in the sector, nearly 38 kilos of free gold have been recovered.
melted, within the 410 hectares that the project comprises, in addition the state mining company has achieved
remediate about 4 hectares of land that is part of the concession of the Congüime project.
La Enami EP is a public company that also delineates the work area in the concessions and provides
training in forms of exploitation, concentration, recovery, and marketing of gold with
emphasis on the compliance with social, environmental, and safety obligations and responsibilities
minerals that are observed throughout the entire exploitation phase.
As part of social responsibility, the technicians of the state mining company have conducted several workshops on
training in tax issues, environmental education, remediation and reforestation, programs
educational, family planning, vaccination, among others.

Reference Websites:
Fruta del Norte, the largest gold project in Ecuador. Andes Agency, July 17, 2015.
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Fruta del Norte Gold Project, Lundin Gold, http://www.lundingold.com/s/corporate-
presentations.asp
The construction of the Mirador Mining Project is progressing according to schedule, Ministry
Strategic Sectors Coordinator.http://www.sectoresestrategicos.gob.ec/authorities-
they will tour the Mirador project and transmission system.
Video: The Canadian company Lundin Gold will invest in the development of the Fruta del mining field.
North. Ecuador News, January 18, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zd2Bqbrzc8.
National Mining Company (Enami EP) delivers two strategic projects to the Government and the people
Shuar. Ministry Coordinator of Sectors Strategic.
http://www.sectoresestrategicos.gob.ec/national-mining-company-enami-ep-delivers-two-
strategic-projects-for-the-government-and-the-shuar-people/