In Ecuador, the recent introduction of mineral mining led to a conflictive debate on mining and development, particularly the concept of (good living). This article examines the discourses on the mining–development nexus articulated in the conflict around the first large-scale mine of Ecuador, El Mirador. The findings indicate that although the conflict concerns tangible territorial transformations, it is also a struggle over meanings. In this struggle, has become subject to strategic framing processes and eventually turned into an empty signifier. The case of El Mirador illustrates the challenges of advancing from concept to practice in the context of a search for a post-neoliberal development framework.

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Over the last decade, Ecuador has become a new frontier for large-scale mining expansion and this article aims to analyze the territorial transformations and contentious politics that are induced by this new capitalist activity. It therefore presents a case-study of Ecuador’s first large-scale mining project, the Mirador copper mine in the Cordillera del Cóndor in the Amazon region. Using analytical insights from the current debates on territory, specifically the recently coined concept of “territorial pluralism”, the article shows the multiple historical territorialization processes that shaped the Cordillera del Cóndor and describes the interruptive reconfiguration introduced by the mining project. It furthermore examines the visions and strategies of local resistance group. Based on this analysis, I conclude that this particular approach to territory contributes to our comprehension of mining conflicts by revealing the distinct forms of understanding and relating to space and nature, and the power relations that constitute them. I moreover argue that territorial pluralism helps to explain how the repertoires of contention and alternatives that surge from these struggles are structured.

Through a persuasive discourse on well-being and citizen “participation,” Ecuador Estratégico, a government agency tasked with implementing buen vivir (good living) in regions of resource extraction, plays a pivotal role in justifying and legitimizing resource extraction locally. An examination of the practices and discourses of this state institution and of the responses of community members and the ways they negotiate citizenship in the context of mining-based development calls into question the mobilization of buen vivir to govern local populations and push for a controversial mining project. These political strategies were key for the onset of large-scale mining under former president Correa, the effects of which may endure for decades. A través de un discurso persuasivo sobre el bienestar y la “participación” ciudadana, Ecuador Estratégico, un organismo gubernamental encargado de implementar el “buen vivir” en las regiones sujetas a extracción de recursos, desempeña un papel fundamental en la justificación y legitimación de dicha extracción a nivel local. Un análisis de las prácticas y discursos de esta institución estatal, las respuestas de los miembros de la comunidad y las formas en que negocian la ciudadanía en el contexto de un desarrollo basado en la minería pone en entredicho el uso del buen vivir como herramienta para gobernar a las poblaciones locales e impulsar un polémico proyecto minero. Estas estrategias políticas jugaron un papel clave para el inicio de la minería a gran escala bajo el ex-presidente Correa; sus efectos han de perdurar durante décadas.