Ecuador signs $1.7B mining deal

Ecuador signed a more than $1.7 billion mining contract with ODIN Mining del Ecuador on April 27 to develop the Los Cangrejos gold-copper project in El Oro province. (marketwatch.com) (mining.com) ODIN Mining del Ecuador is a local unit of China’s CMOC Group, which took control of the project when it completed its acquisition of Canada’s Lumina Gold in June 2025. (bloomberg.com) (prnewswire.com) The contract covers Los Cangrejos, a deposit in Ecuador’s gold-rich El Oro province that earlier technical studies described as the country’s largest primary gold deposit. (marketwatch.com) (sec.gov) Ecuador’s government said the project is expected to generate $4.39 billion in total revenue for the state through taxes, royalties and other payments. (mining.com) (miningreporters.com) That matters for President Daniel Noboa’s push to expand Ecuador’s formal mining industry as the country looks for export income beyond oil. Los Cangrejos adds another large-scale project to a sector still small beside Chile and Peru. (bloomberg.com) (mining.com) The project was already sizeable before CMOC arrived. Lumina Gold’s 2023 pre-feasibility study outlined a 26-year mine life, average annual output of 371,000 ounces of gold and 41 million pounds of copper, and an after-tax net present value of about $2.2 billion. (prnewswire.com) That study also put probable gold reserves at 11.6 million ounces and described a revenue mix led by gold, with copper providing a smaller but material share. (prnewswire.com) (minedocs.com) CMOC agreed to buy Lumina in April 2025 for about C$581 million, a deal the Chinese miner said would give it a foothold in Ecuador’s gold sector and support future development at Cangrejos. (en.cmoc.com) (prnewswire.com) Now the company has the exploitation contract in hand. The next test is whether CMOC can move a paper project into construction in a country where large mines can face permitting, infrastructure and community hurdles. (marketwatch.com) (prnewswire.com)