Location | |
---|---|
Fruta del Norte (FDN) deposit NOT A MINE (2015) | |
Zamora-Chinchipe Province | |
Country | Ecuador |
Coordinates | 3°50′04″S 78°36′14″W / 3.83438931°S 78.60400078°W |
Production | |
Products | Gold |
Owner | |
Company | Lundin Gold Inc. |
The Fruta del Norte deposit is the largest gold deposit in Ecuador.[1] The deposit is part of the Corriente Copper Belt located in the Amazon province of Zamora-Chinchipe.
In 2006 Aurelian Resources discovered a large deposit at Fruta del Norte, estimated between 6.8 and 10 million ounces of gold and between 9.1 and 14 million ounces of silver.[2][3] Following changes to Ecuadorian mining laws that limited foreign ownership of mining projects, the Canadian company Kinross Gold acquired Aurelian Resources in 2009 and took on the project.[3] Despite the project's potential, and just days before Congress passed a new mining law in 2013, Kinross pulled out of Ecuador after a dispute over windfall taxes, reporting a loss of $720 million.[4][5][6] In 2014 Kinross sold its entire interest in the project to Fortress Minerals Corporation. The company was renamed Lundin Gold and the Fruta del Norte deposit went into production in 2019. [7][8]
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