The impact of COVID-19 for the Ecuadorian mining industry in 2020: risks and opportunities

On 11 March 2020, COVID-19, which started in Wuhan (China), was declared a pandemic. Since then, casualties have been increasing and have not ceased. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the Ecuadorian mining industry and to identify the capacities and weaknesses caused by the sanitary crisis. For this purpose, the study was structured in four stages: (a) bibliographic review of organizations at the international level; (b) collection of local data (surveys and interviews); (c) multi-criteria analysis, and (d) selection of social and economic indicators that can be replicated in Ecuador’s mining sector. International data indicated notable progress in the social, health, and safety areas but less in the labor-economic aspect. Surveys and interviews showed the different impacts of COVID-19 in Ecuador’s mining sector, and multi-criteria analysis along with social and economic indicators served as a reference for recommendations to improve the weaknesses detected and reinforcing the strengths of the sector. The Ecuadorian scenario is different from the one abroad; companies presented more social and economic information and less about health and safety than international companies.