The Canadian Almaden Minerals still wants to extract gold and silver in the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, in the state of Puebla. In February, the Supreme Court of Justice annulled two concessions granted to the company because the government had not previously consulted the communities of the region. It was a historic decision for the rights of indigenous peoples. However, the highest court left the door open to reissuing permits after consultation. Almaden, through its subsidiary Minera Gorrión, declared itself on Tuesday “in the best possible conditions” for this to take place and thus be able to continue the project.

The future of the controversial open-pit mine that Almaden wants to open hangs in the balance. The landmark Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed the right of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consultation about projects located on their territory, a principle established in ILO Convention 169 and which has been repeatedly ignored by governments. As this requirement had not been met before the permits were granted, the court agreed with the community of Tecoltemi, whose territory was granted without consultation, and left the mining company’s two concessions, which totaled more of 14,000 “insubstantial” hectares.

Today, Almaden, which has invested some $40 million in prospecting and exploration, is waiting for the Ministry of Economy to consult so that it can then recover the concessions, as the court ruled. in the stop. “The company understands that the application process is still in full force and with that it retains its grandfathering,” it said in a statement. “Minera Gorrión is in the best possible mood and will seek to interact with local authorities and communities to ensure that the consultation takes place.”

As the company acknowledges, the Supreme Court did not set a time limit for the indigenous consultation to take place, which left the government ample leeway. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared at the start of his six-year term that no new mining concessions would be granted. More recently, before the highest court ruled on the case, the Ministry of Environment called on ministers to rule in favor of the Tecoltemi community.

Almaden tried to distance himself from Tecoltemi, a small ejido worried about the mine’s impact on his water supply. The mining project is located a few kilometers from the applicant population, although the two concessions cross part of its territory. The company said on Tuesday that “it has no interest in holding concession titles that can cover the lands of the community that started this whole legal affair”. Almaden has already tried during the trial to waive the part that passed through Tecoltemi in order to annul the legal process. The mining company’s request was rejected by the judge at the time.

Indigenous consultation isn’t the only hurdle the company faces. At the end of 2020, the Ministry of the Environment rejected the environmental impact statement (MIA), which Almaden commissioned from a specialist consultant. Authorization is a prerequisite for moving to the exploitation phase. However, the federal agency considered that the document presented underestimated the indigenous presence in the affected area, as well as the impact of the project on the ecosystem.

A year and a half after the rejection, Almaden said the new MIA he is working on is “substantially complete” and that he hopes to enter it once the government holds the indigenous consultation. “Minera Gorrión reaffirms its commitment to the rule of law and to a mining project that will bring development and well-being to Ixtacamaxtitlán and Mexico,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tecoltemi and the social organizations that accompanied the litigation against Almaden remain vigilant to protect what they see as a historic victory for indigenous peoples against major mining projects. “These criteria are very relevant because by constituting jurisprudence, and therefore being mandatory, they strengthen the rights of indigenous peoples and communities in the country and contribute to ending the imposition of mining extractivism in the territories”, they pointed out in June in a statement.

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