Resumo

TELLEZ RAMIREZ, Isidro  e  SANCHEZ-SALAZAR, María Teresa. Territorial expansion of mining in Mexico during the period 2000-2017. A perspective from the state of Morelos. Invest. Geog [online]. 2018, n.96. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.59607.

During the past three government terms, the mining industry has recorded an exceptional growth in Mexico. The increase in the global demand for minerals and the consequent rise in the international prices of most of them led our country to rapidly become one of the five main global mining investment targets, particularly as regards mineral exploration. In this way, the renewed interest in Mexican mining was associated with increased foreign investment through the arrival of foreign companies, mostly from Canada, as well as an increased and higher share of domestic private investment.

This mining boom was marked, at the same time, by an unprecedented territorial expansion of mining. In little less than three decades, the surface area granted to mining activities grew not only in those states that have historically stood out as mineral extraction centers, but also in states where this activity was either previously non-existent or conducted at a very small scale.

Within this context, this article analyzes the behavior of the territorial expansion of mining over the past seventeen years in the State of Morelos. For the assessment of this perspective of the mining activity, the work includes four sections. The first summarizes recent research in geography focused on the territorial expansion of mining as an accumulation-by-disposession process. The second describes the methodology used for collecting and analyzing two indicators that support the results: number of titles and surface area granted. Thirdly, the assumptions and aspects of the increase in mining surface at a national scale are reviewed . It is discussed that mining expansion constitutes a capital-accumulation approach based on the dispossession of extensive areas of the subsoil, the evolution of which was driven directly by the amendments led by the federal government to the legal framework related to the ownership and exploitation of mineral resources, as well as the growing presence of junior Canadian mining companies. Finally, the article analyzes the behavior and effects of the mining concessions granted over the past seventeen years in the State of Morelos, showing that the concessions to extract metallic minerals grew substantially during the boom that took place between years 2004 and 2013, under a mechanism in which mining companies and private entities were free to decide where, when, and how to explore and exploit minerals, as well as to whom to sell their concession titles. All this took place regardless of the local needs, and even at the expense of these needs; the current and foreseeable land use was not considered either, and the communities affected were not previously consulted. This indicates that the territorial expansion of mining in Morelos has operated through the dispossession of the last remaining collective richness that had not been exploited: rivers, aquifers, hills, springs, Natural Protected Areas, and archaeological sites. As part of this territorial expansion, also addressed are the events that occurred as a result of the attempt to develop an open-pit mine called “Cerro Jumil” in the vicinity of the Xochicalco Archaeological Zone (selected as a World Heritage site in 1999). This mining project undertaken by the company Esperanza Resources, a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company Alamos Gold, triggered the Morelos Movement Against Mining Concessions of Precious Metals (MMCMMP), whose social resistance actions managed to frustrate the implementation of the project, and thereby changed the course of the potential effects that the mining company sought to minimize, even when these were evident given its proximity not only to the archaeological site, but also to the city of Cuernavaca, the political capital of the state of Morelos. It is concluded, therefore, that social repudiation is the only barrier that has managed to restrain the expansion of mining activities in this State, which evidences the need to modify the mechanisms regulating the issuance of mining concession titles in Mexico by the government.

Palavras-chave : mining concessions; territorial expansion; neoliberal policies; state of Morelos; Canadian mining companies.