President Claudia Sheinbaum has confirmed that Mexico will issue no additional mining concessions and will instead subject existing permits to an environmental review—cementing the de-facto moratorium imposed by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“There is not going to be another new concession—no, there are no new mining concessions,” Sheinbaum told reporters, adding that Environment Secretary Alicia Bárcenas “is working to solve the existing problem of contamination that remains in the mines.”
Mexico ranks as the world’s leading silver producer and a heavyweight in gold, copper, lead and zinc output. Industry lobby CAMIMEX has previously estimated the concession freeze cost the sector US$4.5 billion in foregone investment during the López Obrador years.
Sheinbaum’s priority is clear: strategic control over lithium and greater domestic beneficiation of copper, saying the country should also “produce copper products—everything that comes after the copper mine.” She further hints at incentives for smelting and downstream manufacturing that could reshape North American supply chains.
Investors face a double risk: regulatory uncertainty and potential tax reform. Journalists at the same briefing highlighted data showing miners paid just 0.0002% of revenue in 2021, a figure Sheinbaum promised to address in the name of transparency and “national sovereignty.”
With the shock to the global mining space, Sheinbaum’s economic team is trying to soften the blow. Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard called mining “at the center of decisions for the security of Mexico’s economy,” urging the industry to embrace “21st-century mining” compatible with community welfare.
Yet Sheinbaum’s remarks leave little doubt that license extensions will hinge on costly environmental upgrades—particularly for open-pit operations the administration views as high-impact.
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Mexico: The World’s Leading Silver Producer
There is a saying in the mining industry that miners go where the minerals are....