MEXICO MINING INDUSTRY

With a long history in mining that dates back to the colonial period, a diverse geography and rich geology, and a skilled workforce to foster a strong, sustainable and dynamic mining industry, Mexico is a global player for mining investment and production. Mexico possesses some of the world ’s largest reserves of key minerals and is a global leader in the production of different metals.

MEXICO MINING DESTINATION

The country ranks as the world's ninth largest mining producer and the fourth in Latin America. Mexico is currently the world's largest producer of silver and bismuth. It is the world's fifth largest producer of lead, sixth largest of zinc, ninth of gold and 10th of copper. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in 2010 Mexico produced 79.37 tons of gold (27% more than in 2009), 4.41 billion tons of silver, 270 billion tons of copper, 192 billion tons of lead and almost 14 billion tons of zinc. In 2010, the Mexican Mining Chamber (Camimex ) reported a record high of 11.98 billion USD in production value, leading the sector to surpass tourism among the country's leading industries. That year, Mexico exported a total of 15.47 billion USD; 94.2% of that value was generated by the exports of metallic minerals, while non metallic minerals accounted for 5.8% of the total value of the sector's exports. Gold accounted for 37.2% of the total value of Mexican exports, silver for 16.9% and copper for 13.1%. In terms of employment, Mexico's mining industry employed over 280,000 people by the end of 2010. It is estimated that the sector is responsible for more than 1.5 million indirect jobs in the country. As a matter of fact, mining was one of the first Mexican industrial sectors to show signs of job recovery after the 2009 economic downturn, adding more than 14,200 new jobs during the last year, mostly in the extraction and processing of metal ores.

MEXICO MINING PRODUCTION

The Mexican Silver Belt (La Faja de Plata), is the world’s most productive silver district with an annual production of over 10 billion ounces of silver and between 63 and 75 million ounces of accompanying gold production. Many of the major mines in this region which comprises 800 kilometers along the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, including mining districts that have been in nearly continuous production since the 16th century, such as Pachuca (Hidalgo); Guanajuato; Zacatecas and Fresnillo (Zacatecas); Tayoltita (Durango); Santa Eulalia and Parral-Santa Bárbara-San Francisco del Oro (Chihuahua) and Charcas (San Luis Potosí). The belt currently produces about 100 million ounces a year from a combination of epithermal vein and carbonate replacement deposits (CRDs) with production grades ranging from five to 30 ounces per ton of silver (plus substantial copper, zinc and lead co-production) at mining rates of a few hundred to 7,500 tons per day. It is expected that Mexico will retain its place as the world’s largest silver producer in the next years, due to production increases programmed by mining companies like Fresnillo Plc, Coeur d’Alene, Goldcorp and Fortuna Silver Mines, among others.

MEXICO MINING RANK

Currently, there are 777 mining projects in the country, operated by 293 companies. There are 286 companies with foreign capital operating in Mexico. Fifty-six mines in production are in foreign hands; 73% (210) of these firms are headquartered in Canada and 15% (44) in the US. Canadian Goldcorp Inc. is the largest producer of gold in Mexico. The company owns Los Filos mine in Guerrero, the largest gold mine in the country, and began operations of its Peñasquito project in Zacatecas in 2010. Fresnillo mine in Zacatecas, property of Fresnillo Plc, remains the largest producer of primary silver worldwide. In 2010, Fresnillo produced 1.11 billion tons of the mineral, 28% of Mexico ’s total production. Several major exploration projects are scheduled to begin in 2012. Among them, some of the most important projects are Mercedes mine in Sonora, where Yamana Gold expects to produce 125,000 ounces of gold per year, and El Boleo in Baja California,operated by Baja Mining, with an expected production of 50 tons of copper, 1,500 tons of cobalt and 6,000 tons of zinc, annually. Source: ProMexico