In order to attract private investment for the development of different projects in five strategic areas, the Ministry of Coordination of Strategic Sectors of Ecuador, recently presented the Catalogue of investment for Strategic Sectors 2015-2017, which gather together investment opportunities the country offers to private, national and international investors for the development of new projects in the areas of mining, hydrocarbons, water resources, telecommunications and basic industries.

The minerals projects include Llurimagua (copper-molybdenum), Tola Norte (ferro-titaniferrous sands), Naguipa (gold and copper), El Torneado (copper and molybdenum), La Bonita (gold and copper) and Pacto (gold and polymetallics), among others are offered. The head of Strategic Sectors, Rafael Poveda, said the government expects total investments of about $133,000 million in eight mining projects.

In December, 2014 Lundin Gold acquired the Fruta del Norte (FDN) gold project located in southeast Ecuador for $240 million. FDN is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped gold projects in the world and the company plans to quickly advance FDN in order to realise the significant potential of this its flagship project.