Guatemala set to review all mining licenses

Guatemala’s energy and mines ministry will review all recently granted mining permits in response to complaints at both national and international level about corruption and other illicit activities.

Energy and mines minister Víctor Hugo Ventura said the reviews are aimed at complying with the principles of transparency and zero tolerance for corruption, promoted by President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration, E&N magazine reported.

Emphasizing that mining began in Guatemala over seven decades ago, Ventura added that the measures will be based on history, “with a clear balance of social, economic, environmental and social costs and benefits.”

In 2022, the US hit the companies Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, Compañía Procesadora de Níquel de Izabal and Mayaníquel with sanctions, suspending their export licenses on claims the companies were subsidiaries of Russia’s Solway Investment Group, which has operated mines in Guatemala since 2011.

The sanctions were lifted earlier this month after Arévalo took office on January 15. Ventura said the ministry has requested further information from the US on this issue, including the reauthorization of export licenses.

The ministry also highlighted that it does not have the authority to grant mining licenses and that “it only determines the environmental impact and mitigation measures of projects that are regulated through the institution’s exhaustive list.”

Cerro Blanco

Amid the announced reviews, the environment and natural resources ministry confirmed that the situation at the Cerro Blanco project, owned by Canada’s Bluestone Resources, will be verified.

E&N reported that the ministry said the environmental license was authorized in 2007 and renewed on January 9, during the final days of the Alejandro Giammattei administration, giving the green light to gold mining in the area, including a change from underground to open pit operations.

It is estimated that Cerro Blanco in Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, hosts 2.6Moz of gold. However, environmentalists warn of risks to the Güija basin, which connects with the Lempa River and on which more than half the population of El Salvador depends.

More than 7,000 residents of Asunción Mita rejected the mining project in a public consultation in September 2022, but authorities did not address their concerns.