On September 16, thousands of people in the canton of Cuenca in Southern Ecuador’s Azuay Province took to the streets in one of the biggest marches in the recent history of Ecuador, to demand an end to industrial mining in the high altitude paramo de Kimsakocha, a crucial water source for the communities throughout the region.
The march has been dubbed the “fifth river”, referring to the four rivers of Cuenca that citizens were marching to protect - the Tarqui, Yanuncay, Tomebamba and Machángara rivers - and the more than 100, 000 residents of Cuenca who flooded the streets to defend their water and lives in overwhelming opposition to industrial mining in the paramo de Kimsakocha.
The march led by women water defenders was remarkable, not only because of the number of people in the streets but also because of the participation of influential actors such as the Municipality of Cuenca, including the mayor, the Catholic Church, the utility company for the municipality of Cuenca (ETAPA), and the Institute of cancer of Cuenca (SOLCA), among many other groups.
Dozens of organizations and communities came from all over the country to join, among them, the president of Ecuador's largest Indigenous organization, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), mining-affected communities from Las Naves and Rio Blanco, as well as Quito-based human and environmental organizations, in a show of unprecedented national support and solidarity with communities in Cuenca.
Protesters, including elders and children, marched peacefully carrying banners highlighting community demands such as “Yes to Water, No to Gold”, "Out mining company out!”, “Cuenca already said NO. Hands off Kimsakocha!” Some signs also carried the message “No FTA with Canada” in reference to the controversial Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Ecuador, which has been widely denounced by Ecuadorian and Canadian communities and human rights and environmental organizations, and would likely drive a new surge of Canadian mining companies. As of September 2025, there were 15 Canadian mining companies operating in Ecuador. High levels of socio-environmental conflicts are often seen in the territories where these Canadian mining companies are active.
It is clear that all eyes are on Cuenca – the region’s battle against metal mining has become emblematic in the environmental movement for the defense of land and water in Ecuador. As Carlos Castro, a legal professor involved in the struggle to defend the paramo told the Guardian, many Ecuadorians feel that Cuenca’s struggle is “The mother of all battles… If [they] lose here, the rest will fall like dominoes.”
DPM Metals’ Loma Larga Project in the Crossfire
The Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc (formerly Dundee Precious Metals, $DPM.T, $DPMLF) is at the heart of the controversy driving this week’s massive demonstration. The company’s Loma Larga gold-copper project is slated to be installed in the páramo de Kimsakocha – a fragile high-altitude Andean wetland that supplies water for domestic use and irrigation to numerous Indigenous and campesino communities and other residents in Cuenca. The project has faced significant community opposition due to concerns about water contamination since its inception, resulting in several local referendums where locals voted overwhelmingly against allowing industrial mining in the paramos, as well as ongoing legal battles.
While DPM Metals’ country director in Ecuador has claimed that "from a technical perspective, [water contamination] is not a concern. We've studied the issue so thoroughly that there's no risk in doing so", several in-depth independent reports conclude otherwise. TERRAE’s 2022 independent review of the project’s Environmental Impact Study and the 2024 report from Cuenca’s Municipal drinking water authority (ETAPA) have raised the alarm about the high probability of arsenic contamination given the interconnection between the páramo and the groundwater that provides sustenance for tens of thousands of the region’s inhabitants. The reports suggest that any contamination from mining activities in the páramo could quickly spread to the whole region – a real concern given the 5.5 million tons of mine waste the company plans on leaving permanently exposed on the páramo de Kimsakocha when the mine’s 12-year life is up.
A new wave of road blockades and protests were ignited by a scandal earlier this year regarding the Loma Larga project’s court-ordered consultation process, which local communities allege was marked by disinformation campaigns, irregularities and a strong police presence. Despite these serious allegations, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (“MAATE”) approved the consultation process and granted an environmental licence for exploitation to DPM Metals. Since then, environmental defenders in Ecuador have filed an injunction against the project, and submitted a complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission over the company’s failure to disclose material information to its shareholders about serious legal threats related to the ongoing court-ordered suspension of this project. Amidst local pressure, the Ecuadorian Minister of Mines and Energy announced the suspension of the project until DPM Metals’s Environmental Impact Study has been adequately disseminated to the public.
While thousands of people were out in the streets on Wednesday, DPM chose to post on Facebook and YouTube the following message as an attempt to show its willingness to engage with local communities: “Listening is a way to build trust, which is why we present Voices that also matter, a way to hear all perspectives on an issue that is so important to Azuay.” Yet it is clear that DPM Metals Inc is selectively choosing whom to listen to – it continues to flout the 2022 court order suspending the project, and has ignored the thousands of residents of Cuenca, Giron and Victoria del Portete who have already voted in popular referendums against its mining project. If DPM Metals were interested in listening to the population, as they claim, it is clear that they would have shut down the project a long time ago.
The March for the Protection of Water was organized by the Federation of Campesino and Indigenous Organizations of Azuay (Federación de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas del Azuay - FOA in Spanish), Cuenca Water Council (Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca in Spanish), and Kimsakocha Women’s School of Agroecology, among others as part of a series of actions collectively decided in an Assembly for Water and the Páramos to protest the Ministry of Environment’s arbitrary decision to grant an environmental licence for exploitation to DPM Metals Inc.
During the March last week, an ultimatum was issued to Ecuador’ President Noboa: “We are giving Daniel Noboa's government eight days to revoke the environmental license that was illegally granted in our territory. If this is not done, on September 23, an uprising will begin in Tarqui, Victoria del Portete, Girón, and communities throughout the country that have already expressed their support for this cause.”
The resounding message to the company, the Ecuadorian government and Canada is that the city of Cuenca and its surrounding communities do not want any metal mining activity in Kimsakocha. The people of Ecuador have come out in force to protect their water and their páramo from becoming the next mining-produced sacrifice zone. Mining companies, investors and the Ecuadorian and Canadian governments that support them must take notice. This movement is not going away; if anything, it is getting stronger.
For more information or to set up interviews with organizations in Cuenca contact Viviana Herrera, viviana@miningwatch.ca
Photo credits: Primary image and bottom right side bar - Sin Etiquetas +593. Top right side bar - FOA Azuay.
