The Nicaraguan government has granted mining concessions covering more than 1.2 million hectares—roughly 10 percent of the country’s territory—to Chinese-owned companies, intensifying concerns over the expansion of gold extraction into protected Indigenous and Afro-descendant lands. According to reporting by El País, environmental organizations say the latest approvals are part of a broader pattern of rapid concession awards that have accelerated in recent years.
On July 16, the Ortega-Murillo administration approved three gold mining concessions totaling 114,500 hectares for Three Gold Coins Company, a Chinese-owned mining firm, just 41 days after the company submitted its application. Environmental groups say the concessions affect Indigenous communities whose communal territories are protected under Nicaraguan law.
The approvals followed another mining concession issued on July 14, when Global Group, represented by Canadian businessman Thomas Ernest McGrail, transferred two mining concessions totaling 60,610 hectares to Plantel Central Nicaragua S.A. One of those concessions, known as Muy Muy, overlaps with Indigenous territory in central Nicaragua that is legally protected from extractive industries.
According to the Atlas of Mining Concessions published by Fundación del Río on July 14, the government had granted 84 mining concessions to 22 Chinese-capital companies by June 2026. Together, those concessions cover more than 1.2 million hectares in a country with a land area of just over 130,000 square kilometers.
The expansion comes amid heightened tensions between Nicaragua and the United States. In April, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on individuals linked to what it described as the network controlling Chinese mining operations in Nicaragua. Through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Washington sanctioned five individuals connected to the gold sector, including Maurice Ortega Murillo and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, sons of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Environmental organizations say the mining concessions extend across 18 Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories, with 62 concession blocks covering approximately 25.5 percent of communal lands. According to Fundación del Río, the concessions were granted without the free, prior and informed consultation required under international standards. Indigenous leaders cited in the report say many communities were unaware that their lands had already been assigned for mining.
Mayangna Indigenous leader Norman Davis, who lives in exile in Costa Rica, said the concessions followed years of violence against communities defending communal lands. He alleged that armed settlers invaded Indigenous territories, while community forest guards were killed or detained before mining companies received access to the land. Indigenous leaders estimate that more than 70 Indigenous people have been killed in territorial conflicts over the past decade.
The report also highlights the detention of Indigenous leaders. According to the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, Indigenous community members accounted for about 26 percent of Nicaragua’s 46 political prisoners as of May 2026. The organization links their detention to efforts to weaken community governance and strengthen territorial control.
Environmental groups warn that the expansion of gold mining threatens both forests and water resources. Fundación del Río identified 163 rivers, 80 streams and nearly 1,900 kilometers of waterways within concession areas. The organization says gold extraction often involves mercury, which can contaminate rivers and enter the food chain through fish, directly affecting communities that depend on fishing, agriculture, hunting and forest resources for their livelihoods.
According to El País, Indigenous representatives argue that local communities have received little economic benefit from mining despite legal provisions guaranteeing them a share of revenues generated from natural resource extraction on communal lands. Environmental organizations continue to call on the international community and human rights bodies to monitor developments, warning that the continued expansion of mining concessions could permanently alter Indigenous territories and traditional ways of life.
