The varied geological environment existing throughout the country has favored the appropriate conditions that are commonly associated with the setting of economic mineral deposits for base and precious metals.

In 2015, the Government of Ecuador created the Ministry of Mines in an effort to better manage the country’s mineral resources after several studies estimated that only about 8% of the nation’s territory had been explored for mineral deposits.

The vast landscapes yet to be explored have ushered in a “new mining era” that has repositioned Ecuador as a coveted untapped mineral resource for precious and base metal deposits.

Because such favorable geological settings exist, domestic and world mining companies have reinvigorated their involvement and/or interest in mineral exploration and production activities at different work scales to develop the mining sector in Ecuador.

The Government of Ecuador has been open to attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in nonfuel mineral mining in order to reduce its dependency on revenues from the petroleum industry.

The country has been active in reorganizing its mining sector since 2015 and is poised to continue  advancing mining projects for exploration and mining activities as well as granting concession contracts to interested parties in its effort to become a competitive force within the mining industry in the coming decade (2020-2030).