Despite ongoing protests by environmental and indigenous rights groups, Ecuadorean lawmakers approved a mining bill earlier this week to permit large-scale projects tapping the country’s gold, silver and copper deposits. The point of contention: Will the new law promote responsible investment or careless exploitation?

President Rafael Correa revoked nearly 80 percent of mining concessions in April 2008, which mainly affected big Canadian companies. The popular Correa, who is seeking reelection this spring, promises that the revised law will bring about better environmental controls, protection from land speculators and 300,000 new jobs.

But indigenous community organizers aren't satisfied. They say large-scale mining hurts the environment and keeps power in the hands of multinational corporations. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has continued to organize nationwide demonstrations and block roads. Last week, 9,000 indigenous people shut down transportation along the Panamerican Highway south of capital city Quito.

Indigenous-rights groups argue that the mining law contradicts the new Ecuadorean constitution, which introduced a Bill of Rights for nature that grants protection for ecosystems.

Correa criticized opponents of the law as "fundamentalists" who would "condemn us to forever be beggars sitting on a sack of gold." Others disagree. As reported in Upside Down World:

President of the CONAIE Marlon Santi pointed out that the "majority of mining concessions are on indigenous and campesino lands." He also challenged President Correa’s program of "change," saying that "the people who grow potatoes, who grow maize, who live in the Amazon and the mangroves, we are where change is coming from."