Mining Fiscalization Fee Collects About $40M Versus $229M Target as Legal Challenges Advance

Ecuador's mining fiscalization fee is underperforming against the government's target while legal pressure from the sector continues.

Revenue Versus Target

Expreso reports that the government expected to collect $229 million through the mining fiscalization fee. The newspaper reports that the fee has collected around $40 million.

The fee applies to small, medium and large mining in Ecuador. Expreso reports that the sector argues the contribution discourages investment and that the Chamber of Mining of Ecuador and other organizations filed nine constitutional claims against the fee, with eight admitted for processing by the Constitutional Court.

2026 Calculation Base

Expreso reports that the 2026 collection amount will increase because the calculation will be made on the new unified basic salary of $482.

The article also reports that the government announced coercive collection actions in 2025 against firms that did not pay, and that regulatory reforms made non-payment of fees a possible cause for mining-concession expiration.

Business Implications

Issue	Signal
Revenue performance	Collection is far below the government's stated target.
Legal risk	Eight constitutional claims have been admitted for processing.
Project economics	The sector argues the fee acts like a tax rather than payment for a specific state service.
Concession risk	Non-payment may be treated as a cause for concession expiration.

What to watch

• The Constitutional Court's handling of the admitted claims.
• Whether the new Environment and Energy Ministry reviews the fee.
• Enforcement activity tied to concession expiration or coercive collection.
• Investor treatment of the fee in feasibility and capital-allocation models.

Source: Expreso