By Ana Carolina Silveira De Luca
In a mining operation, a word can guide an action, stop a piece of equipment or prevent an accident. When that word reaches a team in another language, precision becomes part of safety. The difference between an operation carried out correctly and a mistake that is difficult to put right may lie between what was written and what was understood.
Operating manuals, internal procedures, technical instructions, maintenance documents and safety materials are part of a mine's daily routine. This content guides the relationship between people, machines and processes. When teams of different nationalities need to consult the same documents, the translation must preserve more than the general meaning of the text.
An instruction may seem clear to the person who wrote it yet lead to a different interpretation by the person reading it. An inadequately translated expression can create uncertainty about the sequence of a task, the condition required before work can begin or each professional's responsibility. In a complex operation, a small difference in interpretation can lead to rework, compromise training or affect a decision in a critical situation.
Imagine a maintenance manual that instructs workers to isolate a machine before carrying out work on it. “Must” does not have the same effect as “may”. A recommendation is not the same as an obligation. A safety condition must not lose precision to make the sentence sound more natural in the target language.
The concern takes on greater significance when we consider the realities of mining. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the agency within the US Department of Labor responsible for safety and health in the sector, 31 workers died in mining accidents in the country in 2024. The agency cites education, training and technical support among the measures aimed at reducing accidents.
The same care applies to communication between teams. A company may have operations in different countries, international suppliers and professionals of various nationalities. A piece of equipment may arrive with an English manual, while internal procedures are in Portuguese and some training takes place in another language.
If the same component is given different names in each document, communication can become more difficult. The problem also arises with acronyms, commands, warnings and emergency procedures. Maintaining consistent terminology helps create a common language among operators, technicians, supervisors and suppliers.
This is where technology can contribute. Specialist companies can use translation memories, their own glossaries and termbases to maintain the consistent use of terms approved by the client across different documents. Artificial intelligence solutions can also speed up the work, provided they receive appropriate instructions and undergo quality controls commensurate with the risks associated with the content.
A tool designed for general use can produce a fluent translation without knowing what a particular term means within that operation. A solution structured for a corporate environment, on the other hand, can work with the company's vocabulary, translation history and specific rules for each project.
Human review remains important, especially for safety documents, critical procedures and materials involving regulatory requirements. Technology and specialist knowledge need to work together to reduce ambiguity and preserve the original meaning.
Another point deserves attention: technical documents change. A piece of equipment is updated, a new version of a procedure is issued or a safety instruction is changed. If the original document changes while its versions in other languages remain outdated, the company ends up with different information for the same activity.
For this reason, the translation of technical documents should not be viewed as an isolated step. It needs to follow the life cycle of information within the company, with version control, glossary updates and review of the content that has changed.
Ultimately, the question is not just whether a mining company needs to translate its manuals. It is how to ensure that everyone receives the same guidance, understands the same risks and knows what action to take.
A good translation does not draw attention to itself. It makes the information feel natural to its readers without losing the precision of the person who wrote it. In mining, that difference can affect time, productivity, quality and, in critical situations, safety. When an instruction needs to guide someone working with a machine, following a procedure or facing a risk, understanding it correctly is not a minor detail. It is part of the job.
Ana Carolina Silveira De Luca is a partner and director of Opportunity Translations and Braivix and has more than 15 years of experience in new business development, marketing strategies, client relations and the translation industry. She holds a degree in Advertising from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, PUC-SP, and an MBA in Marketing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, FGV-SP.