Mexico mining chamber calls for talks on stalled permits

Mexican mining chamber Camimex called on the government to resolve environmental permitting issues which have led to a string of mining projects being suspended.

While the exact number is unknown, several projects have been held up as environmental impact studies (known as MIAs) have been blocked by environment ministry Semarnat, Camimex president Fernando Alanís Ortega told a webinar hosted by Mexico’s association of mining engineers (AIMMGM).

His comments follow warnings that Korea Resources (Kores) may be forced to close its Boleo mine (in picture) in Baja California Sur state if an application to expand an environmental permit is denied.

“Unfortunately, there are projects which have stalled, for two main reasons,” Alanís told the event.

“Some have been halted due to [difficulties] obtaining concessions. As everyone has heard from the government, there are no new mineral concessions in the country, which has disincentivized investment.

“But something that has also been happening is that various MIAs have been stopped in the environment ministry.

“It is important to ask our environmental authorities if we can sit down and talk, and have a dialogue to understand exactly the reasons, or how we can work together to expedite these permits.”

BOLEO – A CASE STUDY

Boleo is the most recent high-profile example of a mine impacted by permitting challenges, according to Alanís, although the situation at the copper-cobalt-zinc operation remains unclear.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said last week that he had rejected an application to expand an environmental permit for Boleo.

“A short time ago they were requesting a permit for the Boleo mine, saying they are going to close and they need a permit for 300, 400ha, and I told them no, that we cannot continue handing out these concessions,” he said.

Boleo operator Minera y Metalúrgica del Boleo (MMB), which is controlled by Kores, warned it would be forced to close the mine if the new permit, which would allow it to expand surface mining on 446ha of land within its existing concessions, is denied, prompting concerns over job losses.

But Semarnat contradicted AMLO, saying in a statement that decisions on environmental permits fall within the ministry’s remit, and that no final decision has been made.

The company is not seeking new concessions, the ministry added.

Boleo is not an isolated example of a mining asset potentially impacted by permit rulings, according to Alanís.

“There are a series of projects that are in a similar situation,” he said.

STALLED PROJECTS

While neither Camimex nor the economy ministry were able to provide details in the webinar on the number of affected projects, BNamericas has reported on at least four which have been blocked at the environmental permitting stage since AMLO came to office.

These are Argonaut Gold’s San Antonio and Cerro del Gallo primary gold projects and Almaden Minerals’ Ixtaca asset, for which the company plans to submit a revised application.

Invecture Group’s Los Cardones gold project in Baja California Sur state was also denied an environmental permit in 2019.

Weeks before the start of the Morena party administration, and after AMLO’s landslide election victory, Semarnat denied Odyssey Marine Exploration an environmental permit for its Don Diego seabed mining project for the second time.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

José Jabalera Batista, who heads the economy ministry’s mining department, told the AIMMGM event that mining projects have been halted for a broad array of reasons.

These include a lack of investment, technical or metallurgical challenges and community opposition, in addition to licensing and permitting issues.

“We are working hand-in-hand with some of them, to support them, and what is most important to us is that these concessions are active,” he told the webinar.