Today, Solaris Resources Inc. share prices dropped to an all time low, falling as low as C$3.52 (US$2.57) per share. The company owns the highly contested copper mining Warintza project located in southeastern Ecuador in the Amazon basin. Solaris has faced significant setbacks in recent months, including ongoing scrutiny from the Indigenous Pueblo Shuar Arutam (PSHA), other principal Indigenous organizations at a regional and national level, Canadian regulatory bodies, and investors.

This drop comes days after principal Indigenous organizations in southeast Ecuadorian Amazon, which include the PSHA, NASHE, and FICSH, which is made up of the Inter-federational Commitee of the Shuar-Achuar and the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), yet again released a public statement reaffirming their rejection of destruction caused by mining in their territories. 

In the beginning of the month, Solaris Resources published another misleading press release, which again claims that it has the necessary social license to operate the mine with the support of only two out of a total of 47 communities that comprise PSHA. Solaris’ statement overlooks the final conclusion from the International Labour Organization (ILO) in March 2024, which states that the PSHA were not properly consulted for the project, thus undermining their rights as guaranteed in ILO Convention 169 and as enshrined in Ecuador’s constitution. The release also cites an outdated “cooperation agreement” with the Interprovincial Federation of Shuar Centers (FICSH), quoting former president, David Tankamash. However, FICSH and its new President, Domingo Ankuash, have publicly come out in support of the PSHA in opposition to the company and project, making Solaris’ claims of additional community support false and misleading. 

Josefina Tunki, the former president of PSHA and vice president of the Territories of Life, TICCA: 

“We have worked hard during so many years of struggle to make known at national and international level the truth of what is happening with the company Lowell–Solaris on our lands, so in 2021 we did not hesitate to denounce [the company] to the ILO about the violations of our rights.”

Jaime Palomino, president of PSHA issued the following statement: 

“We are not surprised that the Solaris-Lowell company has problems with its investments, because all it has caused in our organization and territories are conflicts, even using the image of our own Shuar brothers to make it appear that everything is fine. The company has deceived us about what is really happening. But the company’s disinformation has not discouraged us from continuing to defend our position and our rights.”

Raphael Hoetmer, Western Amazon Program Director of Amazon Watch issued the following statement:  

“The company’s rosy and clear-cut description of its Warintza model is quickly falling apart in the eyes of investors and shareholders who have been fed inaccurate information for years. The share price plummeting to rock-bottom today is a testament to that.” 

Background

PSHA is the legal representative body of 47 communities with collective land title and ancestral possession of 232,500 hectares of territory in the Cordillera del Cóndor region of Ecuador’s Amazon, and site of Solaris’ flagship Warintza copper-gold project. PSHA has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the project for over two decades. The government has failed to consult them as required by the Ecuadorian constitution and international Indigenous rights obligations, nor has their consent for the project been obtained.

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