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Mexico
ANALYSIS
AMLO's environmental reforms seen as new hurdle for Mexico's mining industry
Bnamericas
Published: Tuesday, February 06, 2024
Licensing & Concessions
Legislation & Regulation
Open pit mining
Consumption
Prospecting, exploration and extraction of mineral resources
AMLO's environmental reforms seen as new hurdle for Mexico's mining industry
Banning open pit mining and giving preference to personal and domestic consumption of water over any other use were two of the constitutional reform proposals for environmental issues that Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented to congress, causing concern in the mining industry.
With less than eight months left until the end of his six-year term, AMLO, as he is known, sent the legislature a package of 20 constitutional reforms on Monday that are aimed at boosting his social programs, weakening or scrappìng autonomous state organizations, strengthening state electric company CFE and banning fracking, among other controversial initiatives.
The modifications must be approved by a two-thirds majority in both the lower house and the senate, where the ruling Morena party does not have a sufficient majority, as well as by 17 state congresses. However, there is a possibility that the measures will be approved after the legislative elections on June 2 – when a new president will also be elected – if Morena achieves the majority required.
After the supreme court annulled AMLO’s reform to the electricity industry law last month, expectations grew in the mining sector that this year reforms to four mining-related laws – including the general mining law and the national water law, which still lack regulations and are holding back various processes, including new exploration concessions – could be overturned.
López Obrador has publicly criticized open pit mining.
“This is totally new, open pit mining would be prohibited … since if the constitutional reforms [of May 2023] are confirmed, they're going to tell you that first you can explore and begin the process of being granted a concession to mine, but it wouldn't be granted if it’s open pit,” mining expert and lawyer Alberto Vazquez told BNamericas.
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