The Curse of Copper

The Story

Intag residents confront paramilitaries hired by Ascendant Copper's contractors, December 2, 2006.
Intag residents confront paramilitaries hired by Ascendant Copper's contractors, December 2, 2006. Click here for more.

The story of The Curse of Copper takes place in an area of north-western Ecuador known as Intag. This region is one of the world's ten most threatened biodiversity hotspots, meaning that thousands of its 10,000 species of plants are found nowhere else, and only 7% of the forest's original area remains intact. One of those areas is the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, on the border of which Ascendant Copper Corporation proposes to construct an open-pit copper mine.

Exploration for metallic minerals began in the Intag area with the arrival of Bishimetals, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, in the early 1990s. Bishimetals paid little attention to the laws of Ecuador and faced fierce community opposition, which eventually resulted in a huge protest and the burning of the Bishimetals mining camp in May 1997. Eventually Mitsubishi abandoned its plans to build the mine and the local government passed an ordinance declaring the whole of Cotacachi County an 'Ecological County', thereby banning mining activities in the region.

Ascendant's mercenaries firing at Intag residents, December 2, 2006.
Ascendant's mercenaries firing at Intag residents, December 2, 2006. Click here for more.

Despite this, in August 2002, two mining concessions in the Intag were secretly auctioned off by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Energy and Mines to a private trafficker in mining concessions. These rights were subsequently sold to Ascendant Holding Ltd. in 2004, and transferred to Ascendant Copper Corporation (ACX-T), based in Vancouver, Canada, in October of that same year. This mysterious transaction is still under investigation by the Ecuadorian anti-corruption commission.

Since this time the communities of Intag, supported by groups such as DECOIN (Defensa y Conservación Ecológica del Intag) and the Municipality of Cotacachi County, have fought to uphold their Ecological Ordinance and resist the encroachment of Ascendant Copper on their lands. In doing so, they have attracted the support of people around the world as well as several international organizations including Friends of the Earth, MiningWatch Canada and Rainforest Concern.

Child affected by tear gas used by Ascendant's paramilitaries in their November 1, 2006 attack on Junín.
Child affected by tear gas used by Ascendant's paramilitaries in their November 1, 2006 attack on Junín. Click here for more.

Ascendant Copper has continued to disregard both common decency and the laws of the land by creating and/or hiring "development" organisations that use force and intimidation to wrest control of the Junín area from the communities, who are steadfast in their commitment to sustainable development and local decision-making. More recently (December 7-8, 2006), Yolanda Viteri, Subsecretary of Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, ordered Ascendant to cease all activities and rejected the company's environmental impact statement for its exploration activities. Nevertheless, Ascendant personnel are still active in the Junín area.

April, 2007: The Curse of Copper was shown as part of the prestigious International Wildlife Film Festival, in Missoula, Montana, May 12-19, where it was awarded "Best of Category" in "Independent" and a Merit Award for Use of Music.. It has also been accepted as part of the TERRA: The Nature of Our World Video Podcast.

June 16, 2007: Antofagasta plc, the owner of three copper mines in Chile, withdrew its US$1.13 million investment in Ascendant Copper after a preliminary study of the Chuacha project (in Azuay province of southern Ecuador) showed a level of mineralization that was below expectations.

October, 2007: The Curse of Copper was slected as one of three finalists in the Environmental competition at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "awarded to the program that most effectively contributes to an awareness of the environmental challenges facing the natural world" and sponsored by Environmental Defense.

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