Mexico’s Environment Secretariat Halts Mining Companies: Demands Environmental Authorization in Protected Areas

ByJared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila

This article by Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila originally appeared in the July 21, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) published a decree prohibiting private concession holders from carrying out mining exploration and exploitation activities inside federally protected natural areas without first obtaining environmental impact authorization. The decree takes effect this Tuesday and also establishes that the Secretariat’s officials may not authorize projects subject to Environmental Impact Assessment that involve such works or activities.

“Environmental authorizations are an administrative procedure independent from mining concessions, regulated by current legislation, so the prohibition in the previous paragraph applies to concession holders, including those holding concessions granted prior to May 9, 2023,” the document stresses.

The decree also stipulates that Semarnat officials must ensure concession holders comply with the obligation to implement environmental restoration programs before, during, and after mining exploration and exploitation. Likewise, it stipulates that they may not grant environmental permits at sites safeguarded for the importance of their ecosystem.

They are also prohibited from authorizing the final disposal of mining and metallurgical waste in protected natural areas, wetlands, riverbeds, and federal zones of national waters, given the high risk they pose to health and the environment.

Officials of Semarnat’s administrative units and decentralized administrative bodies who receive an Environmental Impact Assessment request related to exploration and exploitation works are obligated to immediately inform the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas, which must produce a technical report that will be binding in the environmental impact evaluation.

To that end, the head of Conanp, Pedro Álvarez Icaza, was delegated the authority to supervise and monitor strict compliance with the aforementioned prohibitions.

Semarnat explained that before the May 8, 2023 reform to the Mining Law, concessions were granted for the exploration and exploitation of all materials and minerals, and even granted control over water. Now the concession is limited to a specific mineral and to water-related controls.

Currently, with the endorsement of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), the concession is not granted until the private party presents the environmental permits.

“The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has ruled that the concession title and the environmental permit are independent and successive procedures. The SCJN upheld the reform to the Mining Law establishing that holding a concession does not grant an automatic right to exploit; the holder is obligated to obtain environmental authorization,” it reiterated.