Zacatecas, Canada Deepen Mining Ties at Juanicipio Mine

Zacatecas state officials and Canada's ambassador to Mexico jointly toured Fresnillo PLC's Juanicipio mine to reinforce bilateral investment ties, highlighting the operation's role as a benchmark asset amid a recent ownership realignment in which Pan American Silver acquired MAG Silver's 44% stake for roughly US$2.1 billion. 

Officials from Zacatecas and Canada's embassy in Mexico paid a joint visit to the Juanicipio mine this week, part of the agenda surrounding the 2026 International Mining Meeting and intended to shore up foreign capital flows and industrial growth in a state that ranks among Mexico's most mining-intensive.

Jorge Miranda, Minister of Economy, Zacatecas, led the delegation on behalf of Governor David Monreal, accompanied by Canada's Ambassador, Cameron MacKay. The group inspected Fresnillo PLC's Juanicipio operation, examining its technical performance, technology adoption and sustainability practices, factors officials cited as evidence the site now functions as a world-class reference point for the sector.

Zacatecas's economy ministry framed MacKay's attendance as a signal that Canada's government and its corporate sector continue to trust the legal stability and growth environment the state provides. Officials described the gathering as an opportunity to reinforce the economic partnership between Zacatecas and Canada, with both sides committing to pursue fresh investment, advance technology transfer and build out value chains that strengthen the state's broader mining ecosystem. 

"With actions like this, Zacatecas consolidates a permanent agenda of international collaboration to attract investment, generate jobs and strengthen the state's economic development," state officials said, adding that the administration aims to keep Zacatecas positioned as Mexico's leading mining hub while pursuing sustainable development alongside strategic trade partners.

Juanicipio's Role in a Shifting Ownership Landscape

The visit comes as Juanicipio, a joint venture between Fresnillo and Canadian-linked ownership, continues to anchor Zacatecas's status as one of Mexico's premier silver-producing states. The mine, which reached commercial production in mid-2023, produced approximately 9.4Moz of silver that year, ranking it as Mexico's fifth-largest silver-producing unit according to industry figures, with design capacity targets of roughly 11.7 million ounces of silver and 43,500 ounces of gold annually. 

Fresnillo holds a 56% operating interest in the project, a stake it built by investing in and developing concessions originally held by Canada's MAG Silver Corp. in exchange for majority ownership, a structure Fresnillo's leadership has cited as a model for its joint-venture strategy alongside prior partnerships such as Herradura and Soledad-Dipolos.

The remaining 44% interest in Juanicipio changed hands earlier in 2026, when Pan American Silver completed a roughly US$2.1 billion acquisition of MAG Silver, absorbing its minority stake in the mine as part of a broader push to expand its Americas-focused silver portfolio. Fresnillo, for its part, separately divested most of its own shares in MAG Silver after determining that share-conversion terms tied to the Pan American deal no longer matched its investment objectives, while explicitly stating the move would not affect its operational role at Juanicipio, which it has described as its best-performing mine. Fresnillo has continued expanding beyond Mexico as well, completing its first international acquisition late last year with the purchase of Canada's Probe Gold for roughly US$556 million, adding gold reserves in Quebec to a portfolio still anchored domestically by assets like Juanicipio.

The diplomatic outreach also lands against a more complex regulatory backdrop. Since the May 2023 reforms to Mexico's Mining Law, the sector has operated under tighter state supervision, longer permitting cycles and a freeze on new concession grants, conditions that have weighed most heavily on early-stage exploration in states including Zacatecas.

Legal and industry analysts have noted that many companies have responded by redirecting capital toward expanding established mines rather than pursuing greenfield projects, even as federal officials have signaled a more accommodating posture in 2026, including steps to resume geological exploration in select states. Zacatecas itself has moved to address part of that bottleneck at the state level, with local officials reporting that the regional backlog of pending mining permits dropped sharply within the past year, a reduction credited with helping unlock billions of dollars in investment commitments across the state's mining pipeline.