Writing

Mexico.- The Canadian company Almadex Minerals has launched a commercial arbitration against the government of Mexico, demanding at least $200 million after the cancellation of its concession titles to exploit gold and silver in the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, in Puebla. Supreme Court of Justice The Nation revoked those titles in 2022, in a decision that emphasized the need for prior consultations with indigenous peoples to authorize mining concessions.

Almadex's request for arbitration was registered on June 27 before the (ICSID) of world Bankalleging violations of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The lawsuit comes just six days after Chinese company Ganfeng filed a similar lawsuit over the shutdown of its lithium mining project in Sonora after the mineral was nationalized.

Currently, Mexico faces eight arbitrations before the ICSID for disputes with mining companies, reflecting the multiple obstacles that this economic sector has encountered in recent years. Since last December, Almadex had notified the Ministry of Economic Affairs (SE) of its intention to resort to arbitration. However, at a conciliation meeting with federal officials on May 30, no agreement was reached.

Almadex is also seeking damages which, if awarded by the arbitral tribunal, would be calculated based on the estimated net profit from the sale of the minerals that were extracted. This arbitration process could take between two and five years for the final award to be issued.

The cancellation of the titles, carried out by the subsidiary Minera Gorrión of the Ixtaca project, was based on the need to carry out prior consultations with indigenous peoples, although current legislation does not explicitly require this. The Ministry of Economy did not renew the concessions granted in 2003 and 2009, which would have allowed the exploitation of an open-pit mine in Ixtacamaxtitlán, where Almadex had already invested 40 million dollars and had investment plans of up to 1,270 million dollars, generating 600 million dollars. jobs.

Various departments, such as Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), opposed the mining project, arguing that it would cause serious social, cultural, spiritual, environmental and biodiversity impacts.

During the dispute, Almadex He said 1,500 people from neighbouring communities supported the project, while only about 140 opposed it, arguing that consultation with indigenous peoples should have been carried out before specific work began on the mine, not to retroactively revise concession titles.