Baillères, Ancira, Larrea and Slim

During the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, from 2013 to September 2017, the Ministry of Economy granted 3 thousand 190 mining concessions to companies or loan companies for 50 years , mainly in Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo. León, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca reveal data reported by their General Directorate of Mines (DGM).

In 2013, more concessions were delivered: 1,052, which coincides with the maximum. Historic success in mining investment abroad for 5 billion 565 million, according to the Mining Chamber of Mexico (Camimex).

Among the extractive companies that received the right to explore and exploit mineral resources, from 2013 to 2017, Exploraciones Mineras Parreña and Fresnillo, of Grupo Peñoles (Alberto Baillères Gonzalez) stand out; Mineras del Norte, Altos Hornos de México (Alonso Ancira Elizondo) and Grupo México (Germán Larrea Velasco), according to a study by SinMembergo.

Across the entire national territory, only 30% have been explored. . Until December 2016, there were an accumulation of 25,000,652 concessions, including Sonora, Durango, Chihuahua, Zacatecas and Coahuila, which are among the most mineral-producing entities, show DGM figures

"The mining exactivism in Mexico far from reducing the gap of economic and social inequalities, it only deepens because it is widely supported by the exercise of a privilege obtained through practices such as political capture [influencia de una(s) elite(s) extractiva(s) sobre el Estado a favor de sus intereses y en detrimento del interés general]"says Oxfam Mexico. its recent study "Mining and Privileges", which deals with experiences of dispossession of natural goods for the benefit of indigenous and peasant communities for the implementation of mining projects.

"The wealth it generates has made it possible to position three of the richest mining businessmen in the country, which is derived from the privatized and / or state-licensed sectors, and therefore derives from common goods exploited to the detriment of majority, "he adds. They are Carlos Slim Helú (Minera Frisco, subsidiary of the Carso group), Germán Larrea Velasco (Grupo México) and Alberto Baillères (Industria Peñoles, subsidiary of the BAL group). "

THE PRIVILEGES OF THE MINES ACT

The Oxfam series warns that the privileges of mining extractivism have favored the expansion of this activity in Mexico. concessions granted by the federal government, has grown rapidly in recent years: from 2000 to 2010, Mexico extracted twice as much gold as more than 300 years of conquest and colonialism.

In Mexico, this industry promotes the existence of corrupt practices in the Mexican mining sector, abuse of power, non-inclusion of communities and their indigenous peoples, social conflict, loss of the public treasury and national heritage, and Human capital endangered and poorly paid, warns "Mines and Privileges."

The organization warns of the so-called "concession market", which violates the right of villagers to decide on the right to land. future of territories In the list of concessions granted by the Ministry of Economy, besides companies, there are hundreds and hundreds of names of people. They are prestanombres (companies) or speculators.

The Mining Act (1992) states that the validity of a concession is 50 years, with the possibility of extending it for 50 years, and stipulates that the holder of a concession has the right to exchange or sell it to a third party.

This has generated the emergence of small businesses that are acquiring concessions to conduct exploration activities and, once the existence of minerals has been detected in a profitable quantity, they sell the concession to a larger company with sufficient capital to carry out the exploitation.

In 23 years, the value of mining production increased by 986%, from 50 billion to 543 billion pesos in 2016. But the sector it represents only 4% of national GDP since 2013, before the reform of the Mining Act, where no taxes or fees were levied for production at the mine site, which resulted in wealth.

Likewise, the mining law is above the national legislation on the environment and water. "This explains why government agencies tolerate that mining companies causing socio-environmental disasters, such as Sonora, Chalchihuites, Salaverna, among others, continue to operate even though mining is considered as an activity that could lead to ecological imbalance ",

947 projects were carried out in the 1990s among foreign companies, of which nearly 700 (76%) were in Canada, highlighting data from the Sub-Secretariat to mines. They went from 21 operators in 1990 to 2 175 in 2016, an increase of 10 257%.

On a global scale, above Chile and Peru, the country is the leading destination for investment in mineral exploration in Latin America. "Businesses benefit from: secure property rights, low taxes, flexible environmental laws, inexpensive labor, and simplified administrative procedures," says Oxfam Mexico.

At the forefront of silver producers. and the second fluorite site. The main producers of silver are Pan American Silver (Canada), Grupo Mexico and First Majestic Silver (Canada). Mexichem (Mexico's Antonio del Valle Ruiz) is the only one to produce fluorite.

As for the gold, they produce more of Minera Frisco (Mexico by Carlos Slim Helú), Pan American Gold (Canada) and Fresnillo (Mexico). And copper is more produced by Grupo Mexico, whose Buenavista copper mine carried out in August 2014 a toxic spill on the rivers of Sonora which, to date, has harmed the health of its inhabitants.

THE PUNCHES OF MINING EXPLORATION [19659008] During this badennium, communities and civil and international organizations have warned of violations of human rights and human rights. environment – such as water pollution – during mining activities of minerals.

The nuclei belong to 51% of the national surface. agrarian The Oxfam report in Mexico stresses that peasant and indigenous communities populate the territories that mining companies insist on calling "empty" or "mining vocation".

However, when men and women defend their territory and their natural resources (land, water, wind, forests and minerals) against the threat of extractive activities, "also defend the organizational practices, the collective meanings, the links , interrelated relationships ".

The organization stresses that the testimonies of opposing mining activity or those who live in mining extractivism territories, explains the enormous legal and economic inequality, the Access to information and the exercise of rights such as prior, free and informed consultation.

On the environmental impact of mining, warns that it is badociated with each of the phases that make up the project: exploration, mining, ore processing and the post-closure period of the mine. But mining companies downplay the importance and avoid dialogue and access to information with potentially affected populations, says Oxfam Mexico. And the federal prosecutor for environmental protection (Profepa) has 300 federal inspectors, which represents a very limited human resource compared to more than 25,000 concessions.

Despite this, the legal reforms adopted by the countries of the region facilitate the access and exploitation of the badets of the territory by private actors, he says. In the case of Mexico, the amendment to Article 27 of the 1992 Constitution opened the possibility of privatizing, selling or renting peasant lands belonging to communal or ejidal properties.

The same year, the law on mining was also approved. . Article 6 defines the character of "public utility" which makes this activity a priority over any other activity on a certain ground. The Law on Foreign Investment (1993) authorizes investment in Mexico in companies 100% foreign capital.

Among the rights of the holders of mining concessions, the Mining Act allows them not only to conduct exploration and exploitation activities, but also to "dispose of terraces located at inside the surface "and to obtain" constitution of servitude "for operations, as well as the right" to deposit landfill sites, residues, slag and grease bad ", c & o That is, mining waste. Similarly, Mexican law allows them to "take advantage of water from tillage in the mines", although seven uses of water are given higher priority than use in water. 39, mining.

These provisions create an asymmetrical relationship between the rights of holders of mineral claims and the rights of landowners or users of water sources ", badysis of the study.

In general, it synthesizes Commission for Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples of Mexico, unlike in other countries Like the United States, the process of granting concessions in Mexico At no point in public hearing, but only a report on the environmental impact presented to the Secretariat of the Environment (Semarnat).

But it exposes, in many cases, communities or riparian groups of mining projects are the last ones to know what they intend to do, are rarely informed about the processes that will unfold and how they can affect their health, activities and badets, and the authorizations establish that the company itself carries out a surveillance to detect the risks of contamination.