On Saturday, the Mexican Senate approved, in an accelerated session, a package of laws including two constitutional reforms and a new mining law, rejected by the House of Mines and Canada.
Representatives of the president’s Morena party and his allies, with almost unanimity and little debate, approved the laws in a fast-track process, without the presence of opposition lawmakers. Lawmakers gathered outside the house’s usual polling station after the opposition occupied the chamber to try to halt the session.
The two constitutional reforms approved by the Senate in the early hours of Saturday morning provide for the lowering of the age to be a parliamentarian and secretary of state from 21 to 18 and a ban on participation in elections for perpetrators of gender-based violence.
The mining law cuts mining concessions from 50 to 30 years, restricts water extraction licenses and requires, among other changes, that part of the mining profits be returned to local communities. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promoted the initiative, but had initially proposed reducing the concessions to 15 years.
López Obrador has not granted any new mining licenses since taking over the world’s largest producer of silver in late 2018. He said many licenses were granted by previous governments to mine the country’s resources, including gold and copper.
Canada’s Commerce Department expressed concern this week that the new mining legislation could affect Canadian investment in Mexico’s mining industry, where many Canadian companies operate.
The national mining chamber, Camimex, has warned that these reforms could cost the country about $9 billion in investments and up to 420,000 jobs.
Mining giant Grupo Mexico said on Thursday that government reforms in the sector pose no risk to its portfolio.
Source: Terra
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