Andrea Becerril
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, December 31, 2025, p. 9
The federal government must explain how many mining concessions it has granted in recent months, since there is talk of more than 100 in six states, demanded Morena senator Guadalupe Chavira de la Rosa.
He also asked that the Feldmex company project in Zacatlán, Puebla, be stopped, since it involves destroying a protected natural area. He explained that the consortium requested permission from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) to extract 416 tons of feldspar daily – about 125 thousand tons annually – of this material that is used to make glass, ceramics and enamels.
“The requested permits have a period of 10 years to operate the open pit mining in Zacatlán, with the demolition of 10 hectares of coniferous forest such as oaks, fir trees, in what is today a protected area for housing endemic and unique species in the region such as wolves, beavers, lynxes, black bears, deer and hares.”
Senator Chavira de la Rosa added that these species are protected as endemic to Mexico and Central America, “so it would imply ecological damage of great proportions and the federal government must explain its arguments to the Senate. We want to know who and how many permits have been given, because in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador it was an issue with which great care was taken to ensure that bringing investment from extractive companies does not damage the national heritage.”
The Secretary of the Legislative Studies Commission stated that she will request that the Senate demand from the Ministry of Economy and Semarnat a report on how many mining extraction permits have been granted, the states involved and the conditions.
