In the 1990’s, the World Bank funded the PRODEMINCA (Proyecto de Desarrollo Minero y Control Ambiental)  project. One of the components of the project was prospecting in 3.6 million hecrtares of Western Ecuador and generating mineralogical maps for the mining industry It also funded the de-regulation of Ecuador's mining law.  The NGO DECOIN challenged the project and got the WB Inspection Panel to look into it, and tried, but was unsuccessful in keeping the mineralogial information away from mining companies and the government.