QUITO — Ecuador said on Sunday that its largest gold and copper mines would reduce the number of workers and scale back operations to a minimum as the country registers a rapid growth of coronavirus infections. The Fruta del Norte gold mine, operated by Canadian company Lundin Gold Inc, and the Mirador copper mine, in the hands of Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan, began exporting minerals at the end of last year, income with which Ecuador projected significant revenues for its weak economy. "What they are doing is operating at the bare minimum, which means that no equipment stops and everything requires great care," Deputy Mines Minister Fernando Benalcázar said in a telephone interview with Reuters. The Fruta del Norte mine will temporarily suspend operations but maintain a limited workforce "to conduct care and maintenance activities and special projects in order to minimize the impacts of this temporary shutdown," Lundin Gold said in a statement. The number of workers would be reduced from the current 1,080 to between 400 and 500 people on Monday, Benalcázar added.

Source: International New York Times March 22, 2020 19:41 UTC