26 September 2025, 11:00am EDT

Silvercorp Metals’ Mining Project in Ecuador Faces National Rejection and Investor Risks

Ecuador Human Rights Indigenous Rights
Source:
MiningWatch Canada | Proyecto Dulcepamba | Acción Ecológica | EDLC

(Toronto/Quito) While shareholders gather in Vancouver, Canada, for Silvercorp Metals Inc.’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Ecuador is experiencing widespread unrest. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets and blocked highways in a nationwide strike led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and other allied civil society groups. Protesters are demanding the reversal of recent economic measures, including the rollback of fuel subsidies and steep tax increases, as well as an end to Canadian-owned mining projects that threaten communities’ water sources and violate their right to free, prior, and informed consent.

One of the central demands of the strike is that the Ecuadorian government annul the environmental and mineral exploitation licences granted to Silvercorp’s Curipamba–El Domo copper-gold mine in central Ecuador, along with two other Canadian-owned projects about to begin operations. Communities and scientists warn that these projects pose imminent threats to the headwaters of major watersheds and undermine Indigenous and campesino livelihoods that have sustained local economies for centuries. 

The national strike builds on a wave of resistance, including a historic protest held on September 16 in the city of Cuenca, where more than 100,000 people took to the streets to demand the permanent cancellation of the Canadian-owned Loma Larga mining project. In response, President Daniel Noboa announced his administration’s intention to annul the project’s environmental licence, an essential prerequisite for mineral extraction.

These national and provincial protests come amid a surge in repression against environmental defenders in the district of Las Naves, where Silvercorp’s Curipamba–El Domo project is located. In recent months, armed police and military forces arrested and detained a land and water defender (later released), raided the home of another, and used tear gas and rubber bullets against campesino families who had peacefully blocked one of the access roads to the mine for over three months.

Beyond these violent episodes, the project has triggered widespread criminalization of community leaders: 29 environmental defenders have been charged and 13 convicted with prison sentences of up to four years, despite weak or fabricated evidence. Six of these defenders lost their provincial-level appeal and are awaiting a cassation hearing before Ecuador’s National Court of Justice. Meanwhile, three others face a provincial appeal hearing in November, following a mistrial in July. United Nations experts and 283 organizations from around the world have condemned this aggressive persecution of human rights defenders and called for an immediate closure of the criminal investigations and judicial proceedings against the defenders. 

“They are criminalizing us for protecting our water! They are putting our basic rights and livelihoods at risk—all to line the pockets of a few Canadians who are already rich.”

– Freddy Díaz, President of the Las Naves Water and Nature Defence Front, sentenced to three years in prison.

Since acquiring the Curipamba–El Domo project in 2024, Toronto-based Silvercorp Metals continues to downplay the mine’s significant environmental risks and ignore the social conflict and human rights violations it has provoked since 2006. 

“Silvercorp Metals investors should be aware that the company acquired a project marred by social conflict, human rights violations, and significant environmental risks.”

– Emily Conrad, Director, Proyecto Dulcepamba (Ecuador)

Mining-affected communities and their allies are now calling on Silvercorp to answer key questions:

  • If Silvercorp claims to respect human rights, why did it acquire a project widely rejected by local communities and lacking their consent?
  • If Silvercorp insists it only builds “Green Mines,” will it respect communities’ demands to leave their territories so they can continue developing sustainable livelihoods based on agriculture?

Ecuador’s ongoing national strike makes clear that Silvercorp Metals not only faces fierce local resistance but also a surge of nationwide opposition to large-scale mining. While executives in Vancouver assure shareholders of growth and stability, the reality on the ground tells a different story: mass mobilization, escalating conflict, and legal disputes. Ignoring these factors places shareholder investments in jeopardy.

“Investors need to know that the El Domo-Curipamba mine continues to face significant local and national opposition, and that ongoing legal challenges could translate into major reputational and financial risks.” 

– Viviana Herrera, Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada

For more information or to set up interviews with mining-affected communities in Las Naves, contact: