Mining Opportunities/AMLO Lobs Accusation at Banxico

Mining exploitation. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources María Luisa Albores González discussed the mining opportunities specific to the extraction of gold and silver in the country, while confirming there would be no further concessions at this time, a sore point with the mining industry in Mexico. Albores highlighted that there are already 21 million hectares with concessions in the country. "The current surface in current concessions is 21 million hectares, it is almost the size of the state of Chihuahua that has been made available for mining." López Obrador added that his discussions with the visiting president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, included that country’s mining experience. "Due to the experience they have in the exploitation of this mineral, it will help us to analyze what is the most convenient path for the nation: they already have experience in the exploitation of lithium." The López Obrador administration is targeting lithium as a nationally protected resource.

AMLO questions lack of Banxico dividends. López Obrador accused the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) of not delivering dividends to the federal government despite having made a profit. "There were profits, the volume of reserves grew, we have a reserve of more than US$190 billion, it has grown a lot and, in the end, there were no dividends. They have to explain, in respectful and fraternal terms, why in other six-year terms there were dividends and now there are not." He also clarified that his administration had had no problem managing the economy despite not having obtained dividends from the central bank. Banxico said in late April that its operations had not produced enough profits to make such payments to the government.  

COVID-19 vaccines. Minister of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard said the country’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is continuing. He said that as of today, there are just over 30 million vaccine doses in Mexico and that another 10 million doses will arrive in the next 12 days. AMLO added that, "As of today, 70 percent of adults over 60 have had both doses. We already have (vaccinated) around 80 percent of teachers and of all the educational personnel."

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish