1992 Mexican Mining Law

The 1992 Mining Law and subsequent reforms established the legal framework to facilitate foreign capital investment in the exploration and exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources.

Article 6 states that “the exploitation, exploration and benefit of the minerals […] are of public utility” and as such “will have precedence over any other use or exploitation of the land” (Ley Minera, 1992). Article 19, establishes the rights of mining concession holders over the lands within the concession, including to expropriate them, as well as extensive rights to water. In effect, the law “privileges the interests of mining concession holders above any other interest that obstructs the development of this activity” (Cravioto, 2019: iv).

Articles 9 and 10 establish the Mexican Geological Service as responsible for surveying all Mexican territory for deposits and submitting potential concessions to the Ministry of Economy to be opened to tender to Mexican nationals. Only particular lots considered of public utility or for future reserves may be excluded from tender. Articles 13 to 14 define as “vacant mining lot” the lots on which concessions are to be granted and set out the tender process. This includes when a concession is cancelled or abandoned, which results in the Ministry of the Economy publishing a “declaration of vacant mining lot” notice for the mining lot in the Official Gazette, reopening the tender process. These articles make no provision for the protection of indigenous lands as established in articles 4 and 27 of the Mexican Constitution.

In 2005, an additional reform to the law reduced the obligation on concession holders to obtain separate licences for the exploration and exploitation stages to the requirement to obtain a single permit for both stages. It also extended the length of concessions from 25 to 50 years, with the possibility of extending for another 50 years (CDHM Tlachinollan, 2021: 17).

In Guerrero State, between 2005 and 2014, the number of mining concessions granted grew from 417 to 868, from 6% of state territory to 22.6% (CDHM Tlachinollan, 2021: 33). In 2020, there were 673 current mining concessions in the state, covering 883,999 hectares; 221 had been cancelled and a further 98 requested. In the Costa-Montaña region there were 41 concessions, of which 15 were active, 17 had been cancelled and two were being requested ibid: 34).

In 2019, there were more than 27,000 mining concessions in Mexico, covering 11% of national territory. In 2020, the government of Andres Manuel López Obrador stated it would not grant new concessions pending a review of the mining sector (Aristegui Noticias, 2019), but also created the Mining Police, an elite federal police force responsible for protecting mining interests of national and international companies (Olivera, 2020). In 2021, the president threatened to cancel concessions with foreign companies alleged not to be paying the required tax on their activities (El Pais, 2021). Existing mining concessions continue to operate.