Mexican MP Adriana Bustamante Castellanos has introduced an modification to Article 7 of the nation’s Mining Regulation, which might enable for the general public launch of data concerning the manufacturing, processing and sale of minerals, in addition to information on deposits’ mineral reserves and mining and steel firms’ monetary statements.
Underneath the present Mining Regulation, non-public mining firms can preserve such info confidential.
Throughout a press convention final week, Bustamante Castellanos deemed such confidentiality as outdated as it’s a legacy of the negotiations that have been going down in 1992 when Mexico was pushing to affix the North American Free Commerce Settlement.
The MP for the ruling celebration Morena additionally stated that shifting in the direction of transparency on the subject of entry to info implies that mining firms may also must disclose their methods to ensure communities’ proper to a wholesome setting.
“This [1992] laws allowed [mining companies] to trigger irreparable injury to the ecosystems and territories the place extractive actions are carried out. It has additionally had impacts on the well being of complete populations,” she stated.
For instance, the legislator talked about the environmental and financial penalties residents of the Sonora River valley are nonetheless enduring following the 2014 accident that led to the spill of 11 million gallons of poisonous waste from Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista copper mine.
The draft modification to Article 7 additionally states that mining firms’ info have to be accessible and up to date via Mexico’s Digital Methods of Geological Data and Cartography.
“The absence of well timed, truthful, full, and intercultural information in regards to the tasks and their socio-environmental impacts has meant that the Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and farming communities should not have the instruments to adequately take part within the prior session processes,” Bustamante Castellanos stated.
In her view, it is very important know all the small print of mining firms’ operations as a result of from 2012 to 2018 when Enrique Peña Nieto was in energy, 11% of Mexico’s territory was ‘given away’ via mining concessions.
