Mining Law Reform Will Protect the Environment, President Says

President López Obrador's reform project for the Mining Law has created an atmosphere of uncertainty regarding the future of the mining industry in Mexico. The reform, which aims to decrease the concession periods from 50 years to 15 years, was defended by López Obrador, who says it does not seek to destroy the industry but rather aims to regulate it adequately. 

When questioned about the reform, the president said that there is no risk in the reform for the mining industry since it only aims to properly regulate the sector as well as protect the environment and valuable natural resources like water. He argued that the concessions granted during what he called the "neoliberal period" covered over 60% of the national territory, which would take "a thousand years" to explore. He also believes that these concessions only contributed to speculation and yielded little actual value.

López Obrador also mentioned the need to take care of the environment since he considers the industry is not taking enough measures to do so. “This is about protecting the environment, but in an authentic way, not in a simulated way, not hypocritical or with duplicitous discourse. In the case of mining, let us assume that with this initiative, half of the concessionaires in the mining industry were to leave, or to put it another way, half of the concessions were to be canceled. With that half, it would be enough to exploit the mining industry for more than a thousand years," he stated.

He said that the concession-granting process during the neoliberal period was unfair to Mexico’s countless ejidos and small landowners unaware of what their land holds or what it has been assigned to. "I am sure that most of the property owners in Sonora, Durango, Chihuahua and Oaxaca do not know much because the government was focused on granting concessions throughout the country. Mexico has 200 million ha, 2 million km², and these governments granted 120 million ha for mining exploitation, which is 60% of the national territory during the neoliberal period," López Obrador added. 

López Obrador emphasized that the aim is to stop granting concessions in areas where water scarcity is an issue, which makes this a human rights issue. He dismissed claims from analysts and critics of the reform that it would end mining in the country, stating that they have not understood the policy’s purpose. He added that those who oppose the reform are not true democrats, but rather oligarchs or employees of oligarchs.