Exploratory and commercial mining operations at the Fruta del Norte site in Zamora Chinchipe have utilized an open-publishing platform for the past two decades, reporting water quality data from the surrounding Machinaza River and its tributaries in alignment with best practice. Beyond this, recent analysis conducted on samples from tailings facilities, ponds, riverbeds, outlets, surrounding rock, and liquid tailings have revealed elevations in arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb), associated with pyrite and other sulfides, in sediments throughout the watershed. This data will inform best practice and further investigation in the region for the years to come, and presents a need to assess ongoing environmental impacts from mineral extraction activities in the region. As Indigenous Ecuadorian communities struggle to balance the need for poverty alleviation and the costs of environmental degradation, the resource extraction policies of Indigenous communities in Zamora Chinchipe have reflected their community’s complex needs.