Solaris Resources hit its lowest stock price this week at CAD 3.31 (US $2.41), as Indigenous organizations once again initiated multiple actions to reject its flagship copper-gold Warintza project in Ecuador. This price drop occurs amid increasing distrust by investors that the company’s management can live up to its promises.
The Warintza project, repeatedly touted as a “world class site,” is owned by small-cap investors and management, with almost 40% owned by its board chairman, Canadian billionaire and businessman Richard Warke. Solaris promotes the “implementation” of its “Warintza model” as the standard for cultivating community relationships. However, Solaris has repeatedly failed to disclose strong opposition from the Indigenous Shuar Arutam Peoples (PSHA) since it acquired Lowell Minerals Exploration and its Warintza project in 2018.
At the end of 2021, investor optimism almost hit 17.00 CAD (US $12.35) per share. Since then, stock prices have failed to reach these same highs, and even dropped to all-time lows early this week, influenced by a series of setbacks over recent months. One of these setbacks includes the termination of Solaris’ deal with one of the biggest mining companies in the world, Zijin Mining as it faced regulatory challenges in Canada. This deal would have injected CAD 130 million (US $94.5 million) to be used to further the advancement of the project and may have set the stage for Zijin’s complete acquisition of Warintza.
Solaris’ plans have also contributed to increased tensions and conflicts within Indigenous organizations. Just this week, the police intervened irregularly to evict the current governance council of the Interprovincial Shuar Federation (FICSH) from its headquarters, reportedly without any legal basis to do so.
The FICSH council is presided by historical Shuar leader Domingo Ankuash, who is known for his opposition to extractive projects and was elected to replace a the last president after he made unauthorized agreements with Solaris.
The National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has denounced the latest events, stating: “We energetically condemn the way in which the Ecuadorian government of Daniel Noboa, in complicity with the Canadian mining company, Solaris, have violated the autonomy, self-determination, and right to free, prior, and informed consent of the Shuar Nation, and of the organizational structure of the FICSH and CONAIE.”
Opposition continues
To make matters worse for the company, Indigenous organizations continue to publicly denounce Solaris and the project, challenging its Warintza model.
At the time of Solaris’ Annual General Meeting in June, a group of organized youth from the Mankiuants community, affected by the Warintza mine, directly took on Solaris using social media to challenge the company’s prevailing narrative that the project is vital for development and that it has the necessary local support. Indigenous youth successfully launched a series of viral social media videos addressing investors, making waves on online platforms like Instagram and Facebook – even reaching niche investor communities. These videos have garnered almost 200 thousand views collectively and corresponded to an immediate drop in company share prices at the time of their release.
In July, the Inter-federational Committee of the Shuar-Achuar Peoples (that unites the principal Indigenous organizations based in the southeastern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, the PSHA, NASHE, and FICSH) met to discuss plans for mining and oil projects in their territories. The assembly agreed on a scathing statement publicly posted online reaffirming their rejection of destruction caused by mining in their territories. It states:
“We energetically denounce and reject extractive companies that divide our communities through so-called peaceful dialogues with community authorities, as is the case of David Tankamash, the former president of the FICSH, who signed a cooperation agreement with transnational company Solaris in the 2024 Mining Expo in Canada.”
Imminent legal risks to Warintza due to lack of consent
Despite these powerful and creative actions from the ground resisting the project, Solaris continues to propagate misleading information to investors and downplays mounting Indigenous opposition not only from PSHA, but other Indigenous federations as well, against Warintza.
Solaris continues to claim that it has obtained the proper “social license” and has performed proper “consultations” with only two communities, the Warints and Yawi, to legally operate in the area. However, Solaris does not clearly state that the Ecuadorian government, not corporations, has the legal responsibility to carry out these actions, making its claims inaccurate. This was concluded by an expert committee of the International Labour Organization earlier this year:
“Regarding the allegations of the confirmation of a ’strategic alliance’ between the company that holds the concessions and some members of some communities affected with the goal of reactivating the project, the Committee considers that, while it doesn’t prohibit a relationship between companies in the private sector with Indigenous peoples in the context of a project slated for development in their territories, this relationship is not equivalent to a process of consultation in the sense of the Convention, which, as previously mentioned, corresponds to the responsibility of the government and is subject to the requirements outlined in Article 6 of the agreement.”
In fact, the government has failed to consult them as required by the Ecuadorian Constitution and international obligations to uphold Indigenous rights, nor has their consent for the project been obtained. This presents one of the most significant legal risks for the project’s viability and undermines the efficacy of Solaris’ Warintza model.
Opposition by the local Indigenous organizations against the project has a long history. The Warintza project is planned within the territory of the PSHA, which is the legal representative body of 47 communities with collective land title and possession of 232,500 hectares of ancestral territories in the Cordillera del Cóndor region of Ecuador’s Amazon. PSHA has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the project for over two decades.
Indigenous resistance to project is a bad sign for investors
The volatility of Solaris Resources’ stocks is highly sensitive to information in relation to its Warintza project, which by far serves as the company’s most crucial asset and is highly material to the company and investors. Any risks that can directly or indirectly impact the viability of this project – such as intensifying Indigenous opposition, erosion of trust in management, and political volatility in Ecuador – can send negative signals to investors and the broader market, thereby influencing the valuation of stock prices.
Since the acquisition of Warintza, Solaris has yet to fully disclose all risks associated with the mine. To maintain its sustainable reputation in the eyes of investors, lenders, and regulators, Solaris obscures Indigenous opposition against it and actions on a local, national, and international level as means to attract the necessary capital and potential buyers for the advancement of Warintza. The stock going down clearly shows how Indigenous resistance and the doubts about management’s decisions are affecting trust of its investors.
The PSHA, alongside other Indigenous federations, reject this corporate greenwashing and remain steadfast in their opposition against Warintza. In solidarity, Amazon Watch will continue to uplift and amplify demands from the ground to raise awareness about the impacts of large-scale mining on Indigenous territories and get #MiningOutoftheAmazon!
