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    DPM Metals and Loma Larga exit calls: hydrological and legal risks for mine planners

    November 25, 2025|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    DPM Metals and Loma Larga exit calls: hydrological and legal risks for mine planners

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Ecuadorian courts ordered a provisional halt to Dundee Precious Metals’ Loma Larga underground gold-copper-silver project in early 2022 after Indigenous and farmer groups filed a constitutional protection action over water and páramo impacts. NGOs are now urging DPM Metals to fully exit the high-altitude project in Azuay province, citing risks to headwater catchments supplying Cuenca and nearby communities. The dispute signals continuing legal and social constraints on hard‑rock mining in Ecuador’s sensitive Andean ecosystems.

    Technical Brief

    • NGOs argue mine dewatering and underground workings could alter baseflows feeding downstream catchments and wetlands.
    • Concerns extend to potential acid mine drainage from sulphide-bearing ore affecting surface and groundwater quality.
    • Civil society groups reference constitutional rights of nature and water as legal basis for opposition.
    • NGOs are pressing for a full corporate exit rather than project redesign or additional mitigation measures.

    Our Take

    Among the 32 Mining stories in our coverage, Ecuador appears less frequently than jurisdictions like Canada or Australia, signalling that political and social licence risk at projects such as Loma Larga may be a key filter for which assets attract sustained international capital.

    The early 2022 provisional halt order at Loma Larga means DPM Metals is effectively carrying a stranded project on its books, a pattern seen in several other Projects-tagged pieces where prolonged legal or permitting limbo has later driven asset sales or write-downs rather than reactivation.

    With no commodity specified for Loma Larga in the current facts, this case underlines how, in our database, ESG and community opposition in countries like Ecuador can dominate project viability discussions even before detailed market narratives around the underlying metal emerge.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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