Riobamba assumes control of aggregates with new fees and sanctions

The Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of the Riobamba Canton assumed and implemented the competence for the regulation, authorization, and control of the exploitation of aggregate and stone materials in riverbeds, lakes, and quarries through Ordinance No. 022-2026, published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 1647 on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The regulation was sanctioned by the mayor, Arch. John Henry Vinueza Salinas, on September 3, 2026, and is effective from its publication. The 62-page text establishes administrative fees, royalties, obligations, and sanctions for concessionaires, artisanal miners, and transporters within the canton.

Approval and legal framework

The Municipal Council of Riobamba discussed and approved the ordinance in sessions on December 3, 2025, and August 26, 2026, as certified by the general secretary, Atty. María Paulina Sarmiento Benavides. The regulatory body codifies the reforms introduced to Ordinance 014-2015 and is based on Article 264, numeral 12, of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, Article 141 of the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization (COOTAD), and Resolution No. 0004-CNC-2014 of the National Council of Competencies, published in the Official Registry No. 411 on January 8, 2015.

The Municipality also acts as the Responsible Application Environmental Authority (AAAr), an accreditation granted by the Ministry of the Environment through Resolution No. 561, published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 728 on September 12, 2016, exclusively for the exploitation of aggregates and stone.

Who decides and how much is paid

The competent authority to resolve grants, authorizations, control, and extinction of mining rights is the Director of Planning Management, Habitat, and Urban Development, following a report from the Aggregates and Stone Sub-process. Article 117 establishes, among others, the following fees:

• Processing for obtaining and renewing a small-scale mining concession title: 2 RBU each time.
• Annual authorization to start mining activities: 2 RBU for concessions and 1 RBU for small-scale mining.
• Annual authorization for the transport of aggregates and stone: 50% of one RBU per vehicle.
• Installation of processing and crushing plants: 2 RBU one time only; annual operation: 3 RBU.
• Registration of technical mining advisors: 1 RBU annually; mining auditors (natural persons) 1 RBU and legal entities 3 RBU.
• Artisanal mining and free utilization: no cost.
• Certified copies: 0.50 dollars per page.

Article 118 establishes a mining royalty of 3% on production costs, payable semi-annually in September and March, and Article 119 requires concessionaires to declare a tax of 1.5 per thousand on total assets by May 30 of each year. Royalties shall be allocated exclusively to investment projects.

Obligations and sanctions

Transporters must register and obtain authorization from the General Directorate of Planning, Habitat, and Urban Development Management, carry the referral guide, and quarterly report the volumes transported; the review of the application takes ten business days. Holders must employ at least 80% Ecuadorian personnel and place warning signs no more than 50 meters from the exploitation front.

The sanctioning regime provides for:

• A fine of up to 200 unified basic salaries and seizure for invasion of mining areas.
• 500 unified basic remunerations for mining activities involving children or adolescents in concessioned areas.
• 100 unified basic remunerations for altering or moving boundary markers.
• Between 20 and 500 unified basic remunerations plus 0.1% of the investment for infractions that do not cause the extinction of the right.
• 15% of one unified basic salary for transporting without a tarp, with a free exhaust, or exceeding the bucket load.
• 50 unified basic remunerations for continuing work in suspended areas.

Regarding environmental matters, minor infractions are sanctioned with 2 UBS, serious ones with 5 UBS, and very serious ones with 10 UBS, with suspensions or revocations as applicable; mitigating factors reduce the fine by 50% and aggravating factors increase it by the same proportion. Payment within ten days grants a 10% reduction.

Transition periods

The transitional provisions grant 120 business days for the Appraisals and Cadastres Sub-process to register information on existing mining rights and for the titles granted by the Sectoral Ministry to be replaced. Holders who do not process the municipal authorization to start activities will have 60 days to close and abandon the mining area, and the Financial Management Directorate has 30 calendar days for the budgetary adjustments of the Technical Area of Aggregates and Stones.

Ordinance No. 010-2026, which establishes the municipal Administrative Sanctioning Regime (Official Registry Special Edition No. 1425 of June 3, 2026), tacitly repealed articles 122 to 128 and transferred the investigative and sanctioning power to the General Directorate of Justice and Municipal Control Management.

For the first time, the regulation organizes the rules of the aggregates business in Riobamba within a single body and increases the cost of non-compliance: local miners and transporters must register, pay fees and royalties, and undergo municipal inspections, while the Municipality gains a stable source of income and tools to curb illegal extraction and damage to rivers and quarries.

Source: Official Registry Special Edition No. 1647, Thursday, September 17, 2026, Section I, p. 1 (official reference: Ordinance No. 022-2026).