First Majestic to Restart Mining in San Ignacio Municipality

The government of the San Ignacio municipality in Sinaloa is aim to revive mining activities to stimulate economic growth and create employment opportunities for residents living in remote areas. The municipality is seeking assistance from First Majestic, a Canada-based mining company, to reopen an unexploited mine.

According to San Ignacio’s Mayor, Octavio Bastidas, Fist Majestic expects to restart the mining project in 2023, benefiting at least 150 people in remote communities. Bastidas said mining could be a great alternative to other economic activities in the municipality as most of the population works in agriculture and livestock. 

Bastidas stated that he scheduled a meeting for April 2023 with Sinaloa’s Ministry of Economy, a local mining delegation and First Majestic representatives to develop a plan in which local communities will have the chance to participate. “We are looking forward to restarting mining activity and to see the workforce come from the mountain areas,” he added.

According to Bastidas, the project was stalled due to legal problems. “We unlocked this issue and we launch this program to retake the project. This is what we want to do and we want it to happen this year,” he mentioned.

The government of San Ignacio stated that it is working with the federal government on improving the connectivity to accompany the development of the local. Key projects include the San Ignacio-Tayoltita highway, whose construction is carried out by the federal government and will benefit Sinaloa as well as Durango. 

According to the Council for Economic Development in Sinaloa (CODESIN), the state is Mexico’s seventh largest entity in terms of active projects, which produce gold, silver, copper, iron, marble, lime, granite and zinc. 

Mining projects are mainly concentrated in 16 municipalities. The most important ar eChoix, El Fuerte, San Blas, Sinaloa, Mocorito, Badiraguato, Culiacán, El Salado, Cosalá, San Ignacio, Las Ollitas, Contraestaca, Mazatlán, Concordia, Rosario y La Rastra.

First Majestic has a wide presence in the north of Mexico, especially in Sonora and Durango. The San Dimas property, the company’s cornerstone asset, is also the closest project to the San Ignacio Municipality.

On Feb. 24, 2023, MBN reported that First Majestic obtained contrasting results in 2022. The company experienced notable increases in production but also faced rising costs. However, it managed to finish 2022 with high liquidity of US$276.6 million.