Nicaragua’s leader Daniel Ortega awarded the Chinese company Xinxin Linze a 25-year mining concession last week. The Latin American nation’s government will be entitled to 3 per cent of the profit generated.
Xinxin can now exploit minerals within a large area in the country’s North Carribean Coast Autonomous Region. The land package in the municipalities of Siuna and Mulukuku spans over 36,000 hectares. Nuevo Bijagual is the name of the section or zone of ground.
No environmental impact studies have been completed at the site, which has raised concerns. An environmentalist said they are supposed to be publicly available.
“We have no knowledge or information about the presentation of those studies; nor if [those over 36,000 hectares] are located on indigenous lands or not,” Amaru Ruiz, Director of the non-governmental organization Fundación del Río, said.
“Nor the endorsements they have received for the project; nor the results of the [required] preliminary open and informed consultation,” he added.
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He’s also concerned about the company’s ecosystem impact because of China’s history of poor environmental and labour standards. The Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of Nicaragua is another group that has voiced its apprehension and concerns about pollution.
This isn’t the first time Ortega has given mining concessions to Chinese companies. He gave the country’s Zhong Fu Development a pair of concessions spanning over 15,000 hectares last year. Santa Rita Mining Company SA and HYTS Resources Development S.A. are others active in Nicaragua.
“China’s objective is to obtain resources from poor countries, to create a dynamic in which knowledge-based economies are forced to acquire materials at higher prices,” Eliseo Núñez, former Nicaraguan opposition lawmaker exiled in Costa Rica, told local media last year. Núñez says this strategy allows China to compensate for its knowledge and technology disadvantage.
El régimen #OrtegaMurillo sigue entregando concesiones mineras, hoy en el #DiadeLaTierra, entregó más de 36,000 mil hectáreas en Siuna y Mulukuku a la empresa de origen Chino, Nicaragua XinXin Linze Minera Group. #SOSNicaragua pic.twitter.com/Am9t4oIIeX
— Amaru Ruiz 🐦 (@AmaruRuiz) April 22, 2024
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Twenty-three per cent of Nicaragua allocated to mining concessions
That is according to data last month from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. Nearly 2.8 million hectares of Nicaragua’s territory have been designated for mining.
The country has granted more than 170 concessions for extracting metals and 127 for other minerals. About 2 million hectares have approved concessions while 800,000 have applications that are currently being processed.
Nicaragua is particularly known for its gold, which is the nation’s number one export. It is the top producer in Central America.
Influential gold producers benefitting from the nation’s precious metals include Mineros S.A. (TSX: MSA), Condor Gold (TSX: COG) and Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) (OTCQX: CXBMF).
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