Upside Down World has a good article on Ecuador’s near-total mining freeze that we recommend anyone interested in South American mining issues should read. The gist of it is that on April 15, Ecuador’s Constitutional Assembly passed a law canceling 88 percent of mining concessions in the country, including all large metal mines.

The Assembly has six months to draft a new mining law. If that law proceeds according to the same guidelines as the temporary freeze (banning mining that damages water resources, banning mining in protected areas and banning concessions to family members of politicians), it could “stop all of IMC, IAMGOLD, Aurelian, Dynasty’s, All Metals, Corriente Resources (Ecuacorrientes project), and Lowell’s - as well as most other metallic mining projects in the country.”

Apparently, the anti-mines movement in Ecuador is very strong and includes members of the Constitutional Assembly. But President Rafael Correa is decidedly pro-mine and has a history of repressing anti-mine protesters, and officials from his administration have said they hope to restart mining by August.

In potentially related news, a number of Ecuador Indymedia activists have been arrested on what appear to be politically motivated charges. Upside Down World notes that “Ecuador Indymedia contributors have been critical of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s support for large-scale mining and a proposed Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.”