QUITO, Mar 2(AP/UNB) - The Chinese-owned mining company Ecuacorriente has signed a contract to invest $1.4 billion over five years for extracting copper in Ecuador's southern Amazon.

Nonrenewable Resource Minister Wilson Pastor touts Thursday's agreement as the first in a series of large-scale mining deals and says production could begin as early as 2013.

Pastor says the Mirador copper deposit in Zamora Chinchipe province has reserves of 5 billion pounds and a 25-year life. He says Ecuador will get at least 52 percent of profits.

President Rafael Correa's government has angered indigenous groups by insisting they have no say about mining on their traditional lands. The project is in a region inhabited by the Shuar people, many of whom oppose mining.