Potential ban on open-pit mining in Mexico causes concern in Chile

The potential ban on open-pit mining Mexico's congress could pass soon has set off alarm bells in other mining countries in the region such as global top copper producer Chile, which, according to NGO Fundación Minera de Chile, also hosts 52% of the world's lithium reserves.

In mid-August, the lower house constitutional committee approved the proposal to ban open-pit mining, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented in February as part of a package of 20 constitutional and legal reforms, including the controversial transformation of the judiciary, published in the official gazette on Sunday.

Since Mexico's ruling coalition has secured a substantial majority in both legislative chambers, the expectation is that the initiative will be approved without further obstacles in the near future, despite industry concerns.

Open-pit mining is the predominant extraction method for metals such as copper and lithium because they tend to be distributed in relatively low concentrations over large areas. In Chile, lithium is primarily extracted via evaporation ponds.

“I come to Mexico and many people talk to me about this famous law that is being processed to prohibit open-pit mining. We have 70% of the mines in Chile that are open pit. Therefore, the approval of a law here in Mexico related to prohibiting open-pit mining is detrimental to us,” Fundación Minera de Chile president Francisco Lecaros told the Mexico Mining Forum.

“And you may ask yourself: Why would this harm Chile if it is a stable country? Precisely because the perceptions that occur today in other territories impact our local realities,” he added.

Lecaros said Chile is no stranger to such situations, generated by a lack of awareness of the benefits and importance of mining for society and the energy transition, which often translate into opposition and rejection by surrounding communities, as well as by environmentalist or anti-mining groups.

“There are situations that complicate things for us today, such as [legal measures against] some projects. We have around US$2.6bn in mining projects in our country [subject to legal action]. We are not immune to this, but we can make progress in improving our policies,” he said.

Lecaros said Chile faces shared challenges with Mexico.

“Education, environmental responsibility, comprehensive development of the region. We have to move forward in communicating, in informing about how, where, why. The importance of mining, the reason for its existence, because many times people have no idea about... what the objectives are, the development, the importance of mining. Mining is part of us, it is part of our daily life.”

He highlighted the need to prevent situations like the one in Panama, where the emblematic Cobre Panamá copper mine owned by Canadian company First Quantum Minerals was closed last November, “harming… the development of a country often due to ideology.”

As a positive example, Lecaros mentioned a community in Chile’s Aconcagua Valley that protested against a US$4bn mining project with signs reading 'Let’s expel large-scale mining from our territory and our lives!' in images similar to ones that emerged in Mexico, El Salvador or Brazil.

“Before, 10,000 people would march in that area. Today, these marches practically don’t exist because the citizens have been told… How are we going to get mining out of our lives? I couldn’t talk with this microphone, [and] thanks to mining, I can even use my cellphone,” he said.

Mining companies, which Fundación Minera de Chile advises, should move forward with education, Lecaros said. “The only way to calm ignorance is with education, with information. There is no other way: it's not by planting trees, paving streets, nor by giving them health facilities. It's education.”

“And [we] invited them to reflect on the importance that we have as an industry to change the lives, not only of our environment, of our company, but of society. And how mining, thanks to this industry, can address multiple social needs our countries have,” he said.