VANCOUVER, CANADA, April 21, 2008 – Further to the company's
news release of April 18, 2008, Corriente has completed an initial review of the
new Mining Mandate that was approved by the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly on
April 18, 2008.
A number of the articles contained in this Mandate are very
unclear and consequently, we are not yet able to fully assess any potential
impact on some of our concession holdings in the country. After a meeting with
mining sector representatives on Friday, April 18, 2008, the President of
Ecuador, through the Presidential Press, issued a statement clarifying the
intent of the Mining Mandate, which states the following:
Quito, April 18, 2008 – The President
of the Republic, Rafael Correa reiterated today that the Mining Mandate seeks to
eliminate all the illegal concessions but "it is not suspending the mining
activity in Ecuador," he said.
The leader manifested this during the
meeting in the Cabinet Hall with several representatives of the country's mining
sector, in which he clarified that, "The Mining Mandate does not impede future
concessions, but rather the majority of the current ones that are in a bad state
and will have to be reverted in order to grant them later within a new
legislative frame", he explained.
Finally, the Head of the State manifested that, "The
current dilemma is not to say yes or no to mining, but rather to seek for
responsible, economical, social and environmental mining," he said, after
insisting that the position of the Government of the Citizen Revolution is yes
to mining, but responsible mining.
In March 2008, Corriente was given title confirmation from the Ministry of
Mines and Petroleum ("MMP") as part of the company's annual audit process. This
process confirmed that all of our concessions are in good standing. To date, we
are not aware of any changes in the "good-standing" status of our concessions.
We are in the process of finalizing meetings with the office of the President of
Ecuador and the MMP over the next few days to be able to provide more clarity to
investors about the intent and potential impact of the Mandate.
Over the last eight years Corriente has invested over CDN$ 80
Million in its Ecuador projects, using capital provided by investors in Canada,
United States and Europe. These capital contributions have allowed the company
to advance the potential mineral wealth of Ecuador from a very early exploration
stage, where almost nothing was known about the geology of southeast Ecuador, to
establishing the existence and feasibility of world class copper resources.
These resources have the potential to bring billions of dollars in
infrastructure development and associated jobs for the benefit of the people of
Ecuador. Uncovering the existence of these important copper resources has
required years of drilling and engineering studies by our dedicated Ecuadorian
team and support from local communities, who realize there can be a better
future for their children utilizing the benefits from responsible resource
development.
