Since the 1990s, the Ecuadorian government has granted several mining concessions on sites located within the Shuar territory, south of the Ecuadorian Amazon. In April 1999, the BHP Billiton mining company signed a contract with the Warintza Shuar community. This company transferred its Mining Project Cordillera del Cóndor to the Current Resources company at the beginning of the 2000s. The latter, in 2001, managed to extend the previous agreement signed by BHP Billiton (Warintza mining project) for five more years. As a result, intraemic conflicts emerged between Shuar centers that were in favor of this activity and those who opposed. In 2003, the Minera Lowell Mineral Exploration company acquired the Warintza project and signed another agreement with the community for a period of 30 years. Concerns emerged between Shuar, who performed various assemblies to discuss the situation. Of the Great Interprovincial Federation of Shuar Centers (FICSH) is born, the organization of the Shuar Arutam (PSHA) people as a pilot of autonomy, self-determination and self-government, legalized in 2006. In October of that same year, the FICSH manifests its opposition to mining activity Within its territory and urges the company Lowell to leave its territory before November 1 of that same year, the company refuses to withdraw from the territory and the next day the Shuar people evict from their territory the company as well as the army that had arrived in helicopters [1].

thirteen years later, in 2019, the Canadian company Solaris Resources acquires the project, through its subsidiary in Ecuador Lowell Mineral Exploration, in order to exploit copper and molybdenum. Three of its shareholders are mineral entrepreneurs recognized in the Canadian mining corporate world: Richard Work, President of Solaris, Ross Beaty, Founder of Pan American Silver [2] and Equinox Gold Corp, companies reported in the Americas for violation of human rights and Environmental pollution, the Ludin family, whose mining projects through Lundin Group Companies are resisted by communities in El Salvador [3] and Ecuador [4].

The Warintza project has 8 concessions and is found in its second four years of initial and actively piercing exploration. According to Solaris, it is expected to reach the preliminary economic assessment stage of the project at the end of 2021 or early 2022. While in some media indicates that they can spend up to 10 years to start the exploitation phase (Interview on Radio Mia, June 29, 2021), in others affirms that it is difficult to foresee and speak from 7 to 15 years [5].

Promoting the extraction of metals and minerals in the Ecuadorian Amazon Under the Flag of the Energy Transition

Copper is considered one of the critical metals needed for the energy transition of fossil fuels to renewable energies to reduce emissions of CO2 and thus fight against climate change. Technologies necessary for the energy transition as solar panels and electric cars require high amounts of copper for their manufacture [6].

The Ecuadorian Government and Industrial Mining Cameras use The discourse of the energy transition in order to promote the extraction of metals and minerals into fragile ecosystems such as the Amazon and Páramos. According to the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, "the rise in the price of copper, anchored to the" bullish market with green dyes "as they have called analysts from international financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, will undoubtedly favor the producing countries of this metal. This is the case of Ecuador, whose benefits will be reflected in a greater payment of royalties for the State for its commercialization "[7]. Likewise, the Government together with the Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Engineers of Mines del Ecuador (AIME) attempt to paint green mining in Ecuador with euphemisms such as: "Climate" mining "" Proactive "," decontaminating "and" Green "Among others. The aime on its side goes further and highlights the role of Ecuador in the manufacture of electric cars: "No mining can not be mitigated the climate change that is closely related to electromobility, renewable energies and in the principles of sustainability" [8 ].

Backed by the Government, Solaris uses this discourse in favor of promoting Warintza among its ethical investors and / or investors interested in the potential economic gains of copper projects. For example, Daniel Earle, president of Solaris, tweeted in 2021 that "copper is the future; Oil is the past. As the world awakens in the reality of copper as the fundamental metal of the electric future, we will see how a wave of acquisitions of historical proportions "[9] is unleashed. Likewise, the President of Solaris has made sure to establish the link between Ecuador, Warintza, and the future boom of copper, "Ecuador has an important role to play in supplying the current energy transition of electrification in which copper is indispensable and each Tastly scarce "[10].

In Corporate Mining Spaces Solaris Resources has reinforced the idea that the company is in a perfect position to capitalize on this copper demand which may contribute to projecting projects and electric cars in the future [11]. The company is published in this way in order to increase the number of investors, given that being a junior company needs a great capital to finance its exploration activities. As you can see in the next section, despite these governmental and corporate discourses, the PSHA denounces Solaris of Threats, Harassment and Vulneration of Your Collective Rights and Nature.

"PSHA already decided not to mining": Impacts of the project and resistance

56% of the ancestral territory of the Shuar Arutam people has been concessioned to Solaris Resources (Canada) but also to 12 other companies [12] Like Solgold (Australia), Explorcobres S.A. EXSA (China and Canada) and Aurania Resources (Canada) without prior consultation and consent processes, free and informed [13]. According to Daniel Earle, the project is at an optimal place since it is surrounded by first-hand infrastructure: from motorway connection, access to a cheap electric network, hydroelectric power, and "especially at an abundant source of fresh water "[14].

In 2019, the PSHA reaffirms its right to self-determination by conducting a query in the territory for registration" as "Territory of Life (Ticca ) "And launches the international campaign" PSHA has already decided not to mining "[15] and in January 2021 it brings a claim before the ILO for the breach of the Equatorian State of ILO Convention 169 [16].

Due to its firm opposition to Solaris, the PSHA has been the subject of a series of abuse by this company in order to divide them, intimidate them and thus move forward with the project. Solaris is accused of ignoring and deteriorating internal processes, ignoring collective decisions and dividing communities by signing, for example, a strategic alliance with two of the 47 communities that make up the PSHA, Warints and Yawi [17], without authorization And against the decisions of the PSHA assemblies, which are the maximum decision organ [18]. According to Solaris, this alliance, which advertises as "a successful and unique example" of related to communities, was only signed with these two communities because they are "the only legitimate communities" on the territory in which they operate [19] .

In your attempt to show that the project enjoys social license to your investors, Solaris has carried out actions that seriously destroy the social fabric of the communities. On September 8, 2020, Solaris signed an Impact and Benefits Agreement with the WarINTS and YAWI centers. Although the company argues that this agreement "provides certainty of community support from the exploration, development stage to production ... which mitigates the key risk issue for the industry in any new project that is associated with indigenous communities" [20], The truth is that the project does not enjoy a social license. The Shuar Arutam people sent an open letter to Solaris, which was published in companies and human rights, categorizing the Agreement as "illegitimate" [21].

Likewise, Solaris has led members of the Strategic Alliance to the Association of Prospectors and Developers of Canada (PDAC) [22] to the world's largest mining convention that takes place every year in March in Toronto, Canada. Through letters addressed to the PDAC and the company, the PSHA has pronounced on both opportunities against this mining event and the company to invite "illegitimate representatives remunerated by the mining company" [23]. Upon returning to their homes after participating in the March 2020 PDAC, three parents of the PDAC attendees died for symptoms similar to those of the COVID-19 in the following month of their return and the virus expanded in the communities of The Cordillera del Cóndor [24].

On the other hand, the PSHA has denounced the state and the company for harassment, criminalization and attempting to establish fear to allow progress of the project. The communities have denounced the militarization of their territories at the request of the Canadian company and the persecution of their leaders and leaders [25]. Josefina Tunki, current President of PSHA, denounced the Solaris Manager before the Criminal Prosecutor's Office of Sucúa, in March 2021, by death threat and intimidation [26]. According to Tunki, the aim of the threat would have been ammented to the PSHA and force him not to carry out his lawsuit against the Ecuador State before the ILO for non-compliance with Convention 169 [27]. One of the most recent militarization attempts suffered by the communities occurred at the end of September 2021, when the women of the Maikiuants community, exercising their right of territorial control as a Shuar people, did not allow the entry of machinery for the construction of the Via to Warints for not having "environmental or vial permits" [28]: "The women of Maikiuants reported to be assaulted and verbally threatened by salaried men of the Transnational Solaris Minera, which creates conflicts, divisions among families, Communities and organization. Women also reported that there is already contamination in the Warints River, and that is why the people of that community captured by the mining is resorting to the Akas de Maikiuants River "instead of the closest to their communities [29].

Despite the ferre rejection of the Shuar Arutam people to large-scale mining in its territory, Solaris continues with its exploration and drilling plans in Shuar territory. According to the PSHA, the impacts of these works are already feeling in their territory, among them, the loss of primary forests, destruction of sacred places and the pollution of the water network and their watershed and microencan systems [30]: An irreversible deterioration that contributes to the loss of ancestral knowledge of the communities represented by PSHA [31]. The small mining, legal and illegal, has also intensified in the area as part of the introduction of the population in the mining economy, with serious social and environmental damage in the territory.

The PSHA has been published internationally by denouncing the image washing that the company tries to make a kind face that complies with corporate social responsibility. For example, in February 2021, the PSHA wrote an open letter to the UN Global Compact after it incorporates Solaris to the initiative that meets companies that undertake to respect human rights and the environment. In the letter, the PSHA informs the global pact that Solaris is not a reference of corporate responsibility [32] but, on the contrary, is a company that generates conflicts in their communities and does not respect their rights.

mining decree 151: "This mining bill has no benefit for us or for the Ecuadorian people"

well during the presidential elections, the current President Guillermo Lasso had promised to promote "human rights and nature ... and the protection of the environment with a sustainable agenda" [33], months after his election, during a meeting with several company managers Mineras, issued Decree 151 that seeks to accelerate mining in the Amazon and show a cozy and conducive atmosphere for mining investors [34]. All this without the consent of indigenous peoples.

Decree 151 aims to increase mining extraction for "development" and "economic reactivation" of the country. However, as President Josefina Tunki says "This mining bill has no benefit for us, for our bases, for the Ecuadorian people, not only for us ... Development is not only mining ... Mining is going to poison our water "[35]. In addition, it includes the acceleration of environmental permits of mining projects in 100 days without taking into account the impacts in the territory of the Shuar and Rights.

while the Ecuadorian government Promotes mining within the framework of the energy transition as a green alternative and Solaris Resources and its executives sell to warintza as a project that will contribute to the decarbonization necessary for the energy transition emphasizing the economic gains of such an investors, the Shuar People Arutam reaffirms that "the PSHA already said no to mining in its territory" and that this is a mining project that violates its collective rights, contaminates its territories and affects its ways of life.