The Government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is creating, together with the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), half a dozen companies to intermediate the extraction of gold under the recently reformed Law 387, the Special Law on Exploration and Exploitation of Minas, which would allow him to circumvent US sanctions against the Nicaraguan Mining Company (Eniminas), in addition to charging artisan cooperatives 5% of the income they obtain.
On January 10, the US Treasury Department, sanctioned the president of the Board of Directors of Eniminasretired division general, Ramón Humberto Calderón Vindell, which forced, six weeks later, to make several changes in the board of directors of the state company, including the replacement of the former military officer by former manager Ruy Delgado Lópezthat would be sanctioned (both he and the company)four months later.
“This is further evidence that the regime is trying to monopolize and control the entire gold value chain, which implies wanting to take over the metal marketing business, especially that which comes from small-scale artisanal mining (MAPE). ), values Amaru Ruiz, environmentalist and president of the illegalized and expropriated River Foundation.
By adding a new element to the gold value chain, what they are doing is “creating more intermediaries, but we don’t know who they are”, because “they are just beginning to act as intermediaries, but we all say they are from people close to the Government”, said the executive of an entity that provides services to companies in the sector.
This source recalled that “before, it was necessary to operate through Eniminas, but now it is with these six companies.” He added that “when the Eniminas law was created, the mining reserve areas were handed over to them, so before asking the MEM for them, they had to go to Eniminas to request a no objection, paying them a percentage, if the area came into operation.
5% commission for a service that no one has ordered
That changed when the United States sanctioned the minister, and then his replacement: the dictatorship was forced to cancel the areas that had been handed over “to two or three companies,” and the power to authorize private entities to enter as intermediaries, which affects first of all the artisanal miners, who “will have to operate through these companies, which will charge 5% for their services.”
A cooperative leader who also spoke anonymously, confirmed the creation of companies by the Government, “to put directly the brushwood that comes from San Carlos, Rancho Grande and San Ramón”, excluding the cooperatives of La Libertad and Santo Domingo , which helped them sell their brushwood to the industrial plants that operate in that mining district.
The company designated to operate in that area of Chontal will make the link so that all the brushwood from San Carlos, Rancho Grande and San Ramón arrives in La Libertad without having to go through the cooperatives of that municipality, or of Santo Domingo. “The 5% that they take away from the cooperatives will be left to that company that they are creating to manage the brushwood of others,” he confirmed.
“Artisanal miners have zero regulation and zero supervision. The Government does not have the capacity to regulate them; that’s why they create these companies, but there is no doubt that they make a profit in the process. It would be interesting to find out what interests are behind that, ”he told CONFIDENTIAL a professional who provides services to a company that is also part of the Nicaraguan mining sector.
They seek to legitimize the unjustifiable
The implementation of a scheme of intermediary companies also seeks to “try to legalize the ASM extraction process, above all, due to the questioning of the lack of sustainability of this activity that has been carried out illegally in different territories” including reserves of biosphere, biological reserves, protected areas and indigenous territories, explained Ruiz.
The environmentalist recalled that this activity has been questioned due to “pollution, the use of mercury, the unsafe conditions in which they work, and child labor. They try to give it a certain ‘legality’ by monopolizing the sector, to be the ones who sell those mining resources to industrial plants, or export them directly”, he added.
Ruiz believes that the “attempt to control that market” will move the affected cooperatives to denounce these intermediaries…. because the ruling party, through these companies –where the State, family and party are combined– will acquire greater capacity for control and generation of income, through the commercialization of gold.
He considered that “creating these companies does not ensure that they correct the extraction processes of the material, nor that they are going to worry about labor, safety, or environmental protection issues,” among others. Instead, he predicts that the activity of artisanal and small-scale miners will increase “in protected areas, in indigenous territories, and in areas where there is no permit to continue expanding this activity,” he reiterated.
