Ecuador seeking consultancy firm for 10-year mining sector strategy

Ecuador’s government has launched a tender process to find a management consulting firm that will help its policy makers with developing a 10-year strategic plan of the mining sector.
According to the tender documents, the aim of the project is to obtain a macroeconomic analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the mining sector. The strategy will serve as key input for the government’s public policy for the decade between 2025 and 2035.
The plan will include six areas of focus: economic development; social and environmental sustainability; research and development; management and administration; regulation and control; and combating illegal mining.
Leading strategy consulting firms from around the world have been invited to bid for the project, with expressions of interest open until December 18, 2024. The one-year contract is worth approximately $980,000, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Mining is a strategically important industry for Ecuador, now the nation’s fourth largest export category, with sales of over $3.3 billion in 2023, according to figures from the mining department.
Ecuador currently has five mining initiatives considered strategic: Fruta del Norte, Mirador, Río Blanco, Loma Larga and Panantza-San Carlos but the portfolio also includes projects such as Llurimagua, Warintza, Cascabel and Cangrejos.
Mirador (copper) and Fruta del Norte (gold) are the only two industrial-scale mines in production in Ecuador, which also has the medium-scale projects Curipamba and La Plata which should become the third and fourth industrial mines. Construction of the Curipamba polymetallic project is due to begin in 2025 and at the La Plata gold project work is expected to start in 2026.