Chile and Ecuador have resumed negotiations over a partnership to develop a major copper deposit in the northern Imbabura province of Ecuador after a yearlong impasse, reported Bloomberg.
Ecuador Energy and Mines Minister Xavier Vera said that Chile’s state copper producer Codelco has agreed to a request by its Ecuadorian counterpart Enami to suspend two arbitration processes over the jointly owned Llurimagua copper-molybdenum project, allowing for talks to resume.
In April 2021, Codelco had requested an arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce and then filed a second request with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in late December.
Llurimagua has been the subject of tensions since November 2020, when Codelco said Enami had not fulfilled an agreement to jointly develop the project, which at that point was in the exploration phase.