The mining report presented by the Fundación del Río exposes the “excessive” growth of mining extraction in Nicaragua allowed by the Daniel Ortega regime, an activity that directly affects protected areas such as the Indio-Maíz Reserve and the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.
According to information documented by the entity, there are 229 metal mining concessions in the country until 2021, covering 2.8 million hectares, and representing 23% of the country’s land area. Of these, 146 have already been granted and 85 are in application. «Of the 146 concessions, 114 have been (granted) in the period of the Ortega regime. Six times more than the number of hectares under concession”, details the report.
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Fundación del Río registers 54 companies and individuals benefiting from granted concessions, only five manage more than 60%, most of them foreign capital. Four Canadian companies occupy 35% of the concession areas. A single Colombian company has in its possession an area of 190,604.91 hectares, equivalent to 21% of concession spaces, and 11% is in the hands of three Nicaraguan companies.
As for artisanal and small-scale mining, the environmental organization reflects that at least 40,000 people are engaged in extraction activity in at least 38 municipalities in the country, this data differs from the 23 municipalities reported by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM).
“Far from stopping the gold rush, it continues to increase, even within the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve. In 2021, the organization presented evidence to public opinion of two artisanal mining sectors within said reserve, La Chiripa and El Naranjo; and so far in 2022, the organization has managed to document a new mining extraction sector called Las Cruces,” the document details.
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In the protected areas of Bosawás and Indio Maíz they have been able to identify at least 79 mining concessions, of which 60 have been granted and 19 are in application. Currently, in Bosawás there is no industrial mining, but there is artisanal mining.
In addition, they indicate that Nicaragua is the country that has the most mining concessions in indigenous and Afro-descendant territories in the Central American region. Through the analysis of the map of rights of mining uses «we can show that there are four towns that are being impacted by said concessions; the Chorotegas, Matagalpas, Miskitus and Mayangnas. There are mining concessions in 21 indigenous territories that affect 5 Chorotega territories, 1 Matagalpa territory, 6 Mayangna territories, 7 Miskitu and 2 multi-ethnic territories (Mayangna and Miskitu)”, rejects the association.
