Ecuador Presses Chinese Mining Companies to Generate Their Own Power
Ecuador · MINING
Key Facts
- —Demand Noboa told Chinese mining companies to generate their own electricity or face disconnection.
- —Deadline Executive Decree 32 gives large power users until 15 December 2026 to self-generate.
- —Mercury Ecuador’s Mining Law has banned mercury in mining since a July 2013 reform.
- —Load Five planned mines would need about 551 megawatts, near Manabí province’s average demand.
- —Precedent The Mirador mine was cut from the national grid in October 2024.
The president wants generation plants, not grid access, and says traces of mercury will not be tolerated in exported material.
President Daniel Noboa said on 28 August 2026 that Chinese mining companies in Ecuador must supply their own electricity. He also demanded that no mercury, and no traces of mercury, appear in the material they extract.
What the president actually asked for
Noboa closed a two-week tour of China, Singapore and Vietnam on 28 August 2026. In a radio interview and a government summary, he set out what he wants from Chinese investors.
His words were blunt: Ecuador is open to trade, but its laws must be respected. The first demand was more electricity generation and transmission from the mining groups themselves.
He said Chinese mining companies that do not add capacity could be disconnected from the grid. The second demand was that no mercury be used, and no traces remain in extracted material.
Neither demand arrived as a new decree, a resolution or a published contract clause. Both were spoken commitments about how existing rules will now be enforced.
He made the same point about balsa wood exporters, which he said report almost no staff. The theme was compliance rather than any new restriction on foreign capital.
The decree that already set the clock
Executive Decree 32 was published in Ecuador’s Registro Oficial on 15 June 2025. It gives high-voltage regulated customers eighteen months to install their own generation.
That deadline falls on 15 December 2026, weeks before the next dry season begins. About 171 large consumers are covered by the rule.
The list includes miners Lundin Gold and Ecuacorriente, the steelmakers Novacero and Adelca, and Petroecuador. Together the biggest users draw roughly 250 megawatts, near 6% of average national demand.
On 7 July 2026 the Vice Ministry of Electricity issued a monitoring order to distribution utilities. Vice Minister Javier Medina asked for updated registries and monthly progress reports.
Utilities were given fifteen days to notify their large customers and refresh the register. Firms that build surplus capacity are expected to sell the excess back to the state.
Why the grid cannot carry the mines
Ecuador rationed power through late 2024 after drought emptied its hydroelectric reservoirs. The government has since recovered more than 500 megawatts, by the president’s own account.
Officials expect a shortfall of about 1,300 megawatts in the 2026-2027 dry season. Mining is the fastest-growing block of new demand on that system.
Five projects now in the pipeline would need roughly 551 megawatts once they run. That is more than the average consumption of Manabí province.
The precedent is recent and hard. In October 2024 the energy minister, Inés Manzano, ordered the Mirador mine off the national grid.
That single order freed 83 megawatts for households at the worst point of the crisis. It showed that Chinese mining companies can be cut off when the reservoirs run low.
Mercury was already illegal in Ecuadorean mining
A 2013 reform to the Mining Law banned mercury use in mining across Ecuador. It was published in Registro Oficial Supplement 37 on 16 July 2013.
The article sits after Article 86 of that law and carries real penalties. Breaching it can cost a company its mining rights and expose it to criminal charges.
Ecuador is also party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the global treaty limiting the metal. It filed a national action plan on artisanal gold mining in May 2020.
So the presidential demand adds no new prohibition to the statute book. What is new is the signal that Chinese mining companies will be audited on it.
Where the mercury actually comes from
Industrial copper and gold plants in Ecuador do not use mercury to recover metal. They rely on flotation and cyanide leaching inside permitted facilities.
Mercury belongs to artisanal and small-scale gold mining, much of it informal or criminal. That is the trade Ecuador’s national action plan was written to address.
In February 2026 the Ministry of Environment and Energy suspended mining across Napo province. It also restricted processing plants in El Oro and Loja under resolution MAE-MAE-2026-0005-RM.
Regulators cited copper, lead, arsenic, cadmium and cyanide above limits in southern rivers. Mercury was not named in the public summary of that resolution.
Gold concentrate is the point where the two worlds can meet in an export container. Buyers abroad increasingly test for the metal, which is why traceability now matters.
The three contracts where this will be settled
Mirador in Zamora Chinchipe is run by Ecuacorriente, owned by the Chinese venture CRCC-Tongguan. Its first phase draws 83 megawatts, and a second phase would push demand well above that.
An addendum for that second phase has been under negotiation for more than two years. Published estimates of the extra load range from 97 to almost 200 megawatts.
Cascabel in Imbabura passed to Jiangxi Copper when it bought Australia’s SolGold in March 2026. The project needs about 150 megawatts and had proposed 200 to 220 megawatts of its own.
Cangrejos in El Oro belongs to CMOC Group, the Chinese miner formerly called China Molybdenum. Ecuador signed its US$1.7 billion exploitation contract in April 2026.
CMOC has studied three hydroelectric plants of 50 megawatts each to feed the mine. Output is not expected before late 2029, at about 11.5 tonnes of gold a year.
What this means for investors in Ecuador
Mining is now Ecuador’s second-largest non-oil export after shrimp. First-half 2026 shipments reached US$2.634 billion, up 40.6% from US$1.873 billion a year earlier.
Copper concentrate led with US$1.128 billion, followed by gold concentrate at US$840 million. Ecuador uses the United States dollar, so no conversion applies to these figures.
Power is therefore the binding constraint on that growth, not ore grade or metal price. Chinese mining companies control the three largest projects still to be built.
Noboa also said China cleared Ecuadorean blueberries and avocados for import during the tour. That access remains unconfirmed by any published protocol from China’s General Administration of Customs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ecuador already ban mercury in mining?
Yes. A 2013 reform to the Mining Law prohibits mercury in mining activities nationwide, with penalties including loss of mining rights.
What happens if Chinese mining companies miss the December deadline?
Executive Decree 32 does not spell out a single sanction. Ecuador has already disconnected a mine from the grid once, in October 2024, so that remains the practical threat.
Which mining projects are affected?
Mirador, Cascabel and Cangrejos are the three large projects held by Chinese groups. Together they account for most of the new electricity demand expected before 2030.
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Sources
- www.expreso.ec
- www.revistazonalibre.ec
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- minamataconvention.org
- www.ambienteyenergia.gob.ec
- www.expreso.ec
- www.eluniverso.com
- www.eluniverso.com
- www.expreso.ec
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