“Ecuador: Final hearing for endemic species case at Llurimagua mining concession to be held on March 11, 2021” - 4 March 2021

…The Llurimagua copper mining project is being jointly developed by Ecuadorian state mining company, ENAMI, and the giant Chilean state mining company, Codelco… In September, 2020, Cotacachi Court ruled that the Ministry of the Environment failed at its job of protecting species on the Llurimagua mining concession in northwestern Ecuador’s biodiverse cloud forests. The judge gave the Ministry of the Environment 90 days to solve omissions and irregularities detailed by the Nation's Comptroller General… If the court rules against the endemic species and rights of nature, the Llurimagua mining project will go ahead and other companies may be encouraged to operate in this area, mainly Australian and Canadian mining companies. Canadian company Cornerstone Capital Resources has been attempting to advance exploration activities in Intag for several years now. Their efforts have been halted due to organized community resistance… A Constitutional Injunction brought against the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and the State Attorney General in August 2020 over concerns the rights of endemic species were being violated is to have its final hearing at the Multicompetent Judicial Unit of the Cotacachi canton on March 11 2021… Judge Carmen Jaramillo Cevallos ruled in September that the Ministry of the Environment had failed to protect endemic and critically endangered species on the Llurimagua mining concession, and gave the Ministry of the Environment 90 days to solve omissions and irregularities detailed by the Nation's Comptroller General in its March 2019 report… Environmental licenses on the concession will be revoked if these issues are not remedied to the judge’s satisfaction. The process will be overseen and validated by the Municipal government, the Universidad de San Francisco (Quito) and the Public Defender's Office (Ombudsman)…