Acapulco, Guerrero.- Zacatecas reported that permits were authorized for mining projects worth 6.5 billion dollars that had been stopped during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“The total investment in mining projects is 6.5 billion dollars in the expansion and new ones, such as the San Nicolás mine,” said the state Secretary of Economy, Jorge Miranda Castro, within the framework of the XXXVI Mining Convention 2025.
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The last federal administration stopped environmental and water permits, but in one year practically 20 were authorized, the official said.
He explained that during the AMLO government, 25 environmental and water permits were not authorized for the start of operations of mining projects in Zacatecas, and today only five permits remain pending authorization from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the National Water Commission (Conagua).
“The San Nicolás mine was exploited and stopped operations in the 1930s, but at that time due to the lack of technology that was not affordable and today the deposit is being resumed,” he explained.
He added that the mining industry represents a third of Zacatecas’ economy. “Today, when there is a new world economic order and a tariff onslaught, the mining activity in Zacatecas is resilient and has not been affected by the trade pressure launched by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.”
He said that mineral prices are at historic values, so it is a great moment for the Zacatecas mining company: “We are convinced in Zacatecas, a mining state, that the mining industry works with the best environmental standards.”
“For Zacatecas it is essential to continue with mining projects so that it sparks development and well-being,” he noted.
Abel González Vargas, president of the Zacatecas Mining Cluster, said that the International Mining Meeting will leave an economic impact of 50 million pesos in 2026, the year in which the meeting that attracts companies will be held.
Until December 2024, the mining industry in Mexico directly employed 416,663 people, and generated almost 1,500,000 indirect jobs.
Additionally, in 2024 it contributed 2.77 percent of GDP and 8.70 percent of industrial GDP.
