Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
According to an article by the media outlet Swissinfo, on Monday, June 2, the Nicaraguan government granted two new mining concessions to companies from the People's Republic of China. These two new projects cover a surface area of 29,613.96 hectares, located in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region.
Specifically, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Nicaragua granted a mining concession to the company Brother Metal S.A., which will be located in the San Leonardo lot and is intended for the exploitation of metallic and non-metallic minerals. This lot covers an area of around 26,000.00 hectares, located in the municipalities of Rosita, Prinzapolka, and Siuna, within the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region.
The second concession was granted to the company Thomas Metal, which will operate in the El Deseo lot and is also designated for the exploitation of metallic and non-metallic minerals. This lot has an approximate area of 4,000.00 hectares and is located in the municipalities of Bonanza and Siuna, in the same autonomous region.
With these two new mining concessions, President Daniel Ortega has granted a total of 21 such concessions to companies from the People's Republic of China over the past two years. These projects cover a total of 196,640.35 hectares throughout the country.
Out of the total hectares, 53,404.86 were granted to the Chinese company Xinxin Linze Mining Group S.A., while 13,194.75 were granted to the aforementioned Brother Metal S.A., making these the companies with the largest presence in Nicaragua’s mining sector.
It is known that these Chinese companies will conduct exploration and exploitation processes of metallic and non-metallic minerals in areas mainly inhabited by Indigenous communities, such as the Mayangnas and the Miskitus.
In addition, these extractive processes will also take place in the department of Estelí, in the municipality of San Juan de Limay, in Jalapa and Murra, in Santo Domingo, in Nueva Segovia, and in Chontales.
In this regard, Amaru Ruiz, a Nicaraguan environmentalist who is currently stateless, has criticized the government of Nicaragua, arguing that the granting of open-pit mining concessions harms the country’s environment.
By the end of 2023, the Central American country had granted a total of 299 mining concessions, of which 127 were for non-metallic mining and the remaining 172 for metallic mining.
According to the country's Central Bank, in 2024 exports from Nicaragua’s mining sector reached 1,391.6 million US dollars, representing an increase of 20.1 percent compared to 2023.
According to the bank's report, this increase was due to a rise in exports of gold and silver, which grew by 20 percent and 24.6 percent respectively. These changes resulted from increases in average prices as well as the total volume exported by the Central American country.
Last but not least, it is worth noting that gold is the most exported product from Nicaragua, and one of the most important companies in the export of this resource is Calibre Mining, a public company with Canadian capital that has operated in Nicaragua since 2009. This company has generated up to 3,500 jobs in the country and became the leading exporter in 2023.
Original text in Spanish. Translated by Large Language Model technology (LLM)
Main Source:
Nicaragua otorga otras dos concesiones mineras a empresas chinas y suman 21 en dos años – SWI
Related News:
Nicaragua and China sign contract for provision of military equipment
Nicaragua will begin exporting domestic coffee to the People’s Republic of China
Nicaragua acquires buses from China for public transportation
You may be interested in:
