If you are reviewing an Ecuador mining EIAS, ESIA, or environmental audit in Spanish, or you are sending an English file for translation, these are the 30 terms you will see most often, and the English equivalents the receiving party will expect.
The list is organized by document section. Each entry includes the Spanish term, the English equivalent, and a short note on how the term is used in an Ecuador mining context.
Environmental and social section
Estudio de Impacto Ambiental (EsIA) — Environmental Impact Study (EIS)
The baseline environmental study that identifies, predicts, and evaluates the potential environmental effects of a proposed project before construction. Required for most mining and energy projects in Ecuador above a defined threshold.
Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental y Social (EIAS) — Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
An expanded impact assessment that includes social and community components. Required by lenders such as the IFC, World Bank, and EBRD, and by most project-finance banks.
Plan de Manejo Ambiental (PMA) — Environmental Management Plan (EMP)
The operational document that defines how the project will prevent, control, mitigate, and compensate the environmental and social impacts identified in the EsIA or EIAS.
Línea base — Baseline
The pre-project environmental and social conditions used as the reference point for measuring change over the life of the project. Always keep the same baseline definition across an EIAS package.
Consulta previa, libre e informada — Free, prior, and informed consultation (FPIC)
The process of meaningful consultation with affected communities, particularly indigenous and tribal peoples, prior to project approval. Lenders and the IFC treat this as a discrete deliverable.
Área de influencia directa / indirecta — Area of direct / indirect influence
The geographic area where project activities are expected to cause measurable environmental or social impacts (direct) versus the area that may experience secondary effects (indirect).
Permits and concessions
Concesión minera — Mining concession
A government-granted right to explore or exploit mineral resources within a defined polygon, issued by Ecuador's mining authority under the Código de Minería.
Permiso ambiental — Environmental permit
The administrative authorization issued after review of the EsIA that allows the project to begin construction or operation, subject to conditions. Read the conditions; they govern the entire operational life.
Licencia de explotación — Operating license
The license that authorizes a mining company to begin extraction, processing, and sale of minerals at a commercial scale. Issued for a defined term, renewable upon compliance review.
Catastro minero — Mining cadastre
The public registry of mining concessions, applications, and free areas administered by Ecuador's mining authority. A catastro review is part of any due diligence.
Geology and exploration
Recursos minerales — Mineral resources
A concentration of minerals in such form and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Classified as measured, indicated, or inferred under JORC or CIM.
Reservas minerales — Mineral reserves
The economically mineable portion of a measured or indicated resource, after mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, and other modifying factors. Probadas (proven) and probables (probable) are the two subcategories.
Sondaje / perforación — Drill hole / drilling
A borehole advanced to obtain geological information, collect samples, or define the geometry of a mineralized body. The drill report is one of the most-checked files in any mining translation.
Ley de corte — Cut-off grade
The minimum metal content at which material is classified as ore and routed to processing. A change in cut-off grade is a red flag for an investor reviewer.
Estudio de factibilidad — Feasibility study
A comprehensive technical and economic study at a level of detail sufficient to support a decision to mine. Typically used to secure project financing.
Operations and processing
Lixiviación — Leaching
A process of extracting a soluble metal from ore by percolating a chemical solution. Lixiviación en pilas is heap leach, lixiviación in situ is in-situ leach.
Mena — Ore
Rock containing valuable minerals at a grade and tonnage that make extraction economically viable.
Ganga — Waste rock / gangue
Rock of insufficient grade to be processed as ore, typically stored in a botadero de estéril. Watch the unit — a translation that uses "slag" in a feasibility study is wrong.
Botadero de estéril / botadero de desmontes — Waste rock dump
The engineered facility used for permanent storage of waste rock, designed to meet geotechnical and water-management standards.
Relaves / tranque de relaves — Tailings / tailings storage facility
The fine-grained material remaining after ore is processed, stored in an impoundment designed for water recovery, stability, and long-term closure. The tranque is the most-regulated facility on most mine sites.
Planta de beneficio / planta de procesamiento — Processing plant
The facility where ore is crushed, ground, and treated to recover valuable minerals, producing a concentrate or bullion for sale.
Compliance and monitoring
Monitoreo ambiental — Environmental monitoring
The systematic collection of physical, chemical, biological, and social data to verify compliance with permit conditions, the PMA, and community commitments.
Cumplimiento ambiental — Environmental compliance
Adherence to applicable environmental laws, regulations, permit conditions, and voluntary commitments in the PMA or EIAS.
Auditoría ambiental — Environmental audit
A documented review of project activities and performance against the approved PMA, permit conditions, and applicable regulations.
Plan de cierre / cierre de mina — Mine closure plan
The plan covering decommissioning, dismantling, site rehabilitation, post-closure monitoring, and financial assurance. Submitted as part of the EsIA and updated through the life of the mine.
Pasivo ambiental — Environmental liability
A site with historic or ongoing contamination, abandonment, or unmanaged impacts for which a party may hold remediation responsibility.
Hidrogeología — Hydrogeology
The study of groundwater in relation to geology, used in baseline studies, water-supply design, and pit dewatering. A translation that misuses "hydrogeology" in a baseline section can mislead the reviewer on the project water balance.
Material particulado (PM10, PM2.5) — Particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5)
Solid or liquid particles suspended in air, monitored at the mine boundary to demonstrate compliance with air quality standards.
Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (DIA) — Environmental Impact Declaration
A simplified environmental study used for lower-impact activities, with reduced content compared to a full EsIA.
How the receiving party will read the file
A lender's social and environmental advisor reads an EIAS package in a specific order: the executive summary, the alternatives analysis, the impact identification, the mitigation hierarchy, the monitoring commitments, and the closure plan. A specialist translation preserves the source's emphasis in each of these sections. A generalist translation may flatten the document so that the closure plan reads the same as the inventory of permits, and the advisor will read the file in the order it was meant to be read.
If you are sending an English file to a Spanish-speaking reviewer, send the same source file we used to build this list — your company's prior Spanish translations, the project's prior EIAS, and your preferred English terminology for the project's defined terms. A glossary built from these sources keeps the new file consistent with the rest of the package.
See our mining glossary for an extended reference, or read about what a lender's advisor actually checks.