"Our flagship asset is Santa Barbara,'"states Laing, "There is a reason I brought in a Chinese player to Chinapintza. China and Ecuador already have a strong financial partnership. The development of the Santa Barbara deposit will very likely involve Chinese partners. We are ensuring that they are having a good experience, in terms of the permitting and the mining protocols in Ecuador."
"I had a good life as an investment banker," confirms Laing, "but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build something big that will benefit the host country and the shareholders for generations. I live and breathe Ecuador Copper and Gold 24 hours a day."
"Earlier in my career, I was a Managing Director at RandGold in South Africa," explains Laing, "In 1993 I came to Canada to be part of TD bank's mining team. After leaving TD bank I had my first real success in the Canadian junior mining and exploration scene with Lytton Minerals, a diamond play in the Canadian Arctic that went to a market cap of over $300 million after the discovery of a number of diamond pipes."
"In 2010, a couple of guys came to me and asked me if I was interested in the Condor gold project in Ecuador."
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"At that point, Kinross had paid Aurelian Resources $1.3 billion for the Fruta Del Norte project, just north of Condor. Kinross over-paid for the project, then cut a deal with the Ecuadorian government that their shareholders didn't like, went back to the government, attempted to renegotiate and eventually the whole deal fell apart in 2013."
Back in 2010 Ecuador introduced a formal mining law. "This turned out to be fantastic opportunity for us. We picked up the Condor project for about $2.50/ounce in the ground. Forty times less than Kinross paid. In 2011 and 2012 we raised $12 million privately through various financings plus another $13 million this year. With thvese funds we have drilled out about 6 million ounces, so all in all including the purchase of the project we are at less than $3 per ounce."
Read more at https://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.egx/ecuador-gold-and-copper-corp?postid=22038071#45JtH9uHWYkmAK3h.99