1997-2017 Nicaraguan Mining and related Laws

In 2001, a new law regulating mining was approved by the National Assambly, the Special Law on Mining Exploration and Exploitation (No. 387) and regulations thereunder (Decree No. 119-2001). In subsequent years, further laws have been passed regulating discharge waste water (Regulation establishing Rules for the Discharge of Waste Water – Decree No. 21-2017), and on procedures relating to mining concessions (Format for Mining Concessions – Ministerial Agreement 533-RN-MC-2006).

These laws have also been supplemented by the requirements under the General Water Law (No. 620), the Law on the Environment and Natural Resources (No. 217), and the Special Law on Crimes against the Environmental and Natural Resources (No. 559) (Pérez 2016, ECOLEX Database). Environmental impact assessments and permits are governed by Decree No. 20-2017, Environmental Evaluation System of Permits and Authorizations on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources (repealed Decree Nos. 76-2006 and 15-2017) (FAOLEX Database).

In 1997, at the time that the Special Law on Mining Exploration and Exploitation (No. 387) was proceeding through the legislative approval process, the Humboldt Centre released a statement expressing opposition to the draft law for the following reasons, among others: (1) insufficient consultation, particularly with potential new mining districts, and highly technical language that was difficult to understand and did not take into account cultural and linguistic differences in the few sectors that were consulted; (2) the participation of the small scale mining industry was treated as a tangential matter, ignoring the importance of this sector; (3) the contradictory and incongruent nature of some of the environmental aspects of the law; (4) conflict with the Municipal Code to the extent that it vitiates municipal and indigenous autonomy; and (5) the law gave primacy to the mining industry over other economic industries, such as agricultural and cattle-raising (Humboldt Centre, 1997). These concerns were also expressed and supported by other environmental organizations, such as ADUN – Matagalpa, the Movement for Peace, Forestry Action, and the Environment (MOPAFMA), the College of Biologists and Ecologists of Nicaragua (COBEN), the Nicaraguan Foundation for Conservation and Development (FUNCOD), and the Environmentalist Youth Club (CJA), along with organizations representative of the mining sector, such as Movement of Women Workers and Unemployed of El Limón, León, the Association of Small Scale Artisanal Miners of Bonanza, North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RAAN), and the Oscar Lino Paz Cubas Organization Pro-Communal Development (OPRODECO) (Ibid).

In addition, in 2017, the Nicaraguan government passed a new law, entitled the Law on the Creation of Nicaraguan Mining Companies (ENIMINAS) (No. 953), through which the government reserved more than 12% of the national territory for mining operations. The Institute of Strategic Research and Public Policy (IEEPP) and the Humboldt Centre raised concern as to whether the state, through state-owned companies, should be involved itself in the mining industry. According to an investigator with the IEEPP, these areas would now be available for exploration and exploitation by private capital without paying taxes at any level (IEEPP, 2017).