ASCENDANT COPPER CORPORATION HIT BY CONSTITUTIONAL INJUNCTION
Cotacachi, 24 August 2006 (corrected 25/08)
Today a Constitutional Injunction to stop Ascendant Copper Corporations Environmental Impact Study for the Junin Copper Mining Project from being approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mines was presented by Mr. Edmundo Lucero, president of the community of Junin.
The injunction asks the court to immediately halt the process of preparation and/or approval of Ascendants Environmental Impact Study until such a time that the court can definitively rule on the numerous constitutional violations, as well as documented breaches of international covenants argued to have taken place during the process of developing of the Environmental Impact Study.
The local court where the Injunction was accepted could immediately call on the Ministry of Energy and Mines to desist from authorizing the Environmental Impact Assessment until the court issues a definitive ruling. The law offices who helped prepare the injunction and who is also working on the multi-million dollar lawsuit against Texaco in Ecuador’s Amazon region, explained that once the legal process could take many months to finalize, in part due to the backup of cases facing the Constitutional Court, where it will undoubtedly end up.
There will be several future legal cases aimed at putting an end to the mining project by using Ecuador's courts.
What is at risk is not only some of the most biodiverse forest on Earth and pristine water resources, but also hundreds of families from at least four communities that would be forced to relocate if exploitation was approved.
Investigations carried out as part of the preparation for the Environmental Impact Study confirmed the extraordinary biological diversity at risk by this mining project. Over 20 species of mammals, birds and amphibians on the list of threatened or endangered species, are listed as making their home in the forests found within the mining area. The list includes the plate-billed mountain toucan; jaguars, spectacled bears, the critically-endangered brown-headed spider Monkey; ocelot; anteaters, and six species of frogs and lizards; some extremely rare.
A complete translation of the injunction will soon be available at Decoin’s web site: www.decoin.org
For More Information please contact decoin@hoy.net
For additional information please contact:
Andre Germain, Friends of the Earth, (613) 241-0085 ext. 26 cell (613) 724-8690
Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada, (613) 569-3439
Carlos Zorrilla, DECOIN, decoin@hoy.net
Get the facts - view the film, "The Curse of Copper," at www.ascendantalert.ca
