The Government of Nicaragua grants three new mining concessions to a Canadian company

San José .- The Nicaraguan government granted three open-pit mining concessions this Thursday to the Canadian company La India Gold S.A., with a total area of 48,897.81 hectares, the fifth after the United States sanctions against the Nicaraguan mining sector, reported in Managua the Official Gazette La Gaceta. In its certification, the General Directorate of Mines of the Attorney General's Office granted La India Gold, represented in Managua by a Canadian citizen with Nicaraguan residency, the mining concession for the exploitation of minerals in the lot called Topacio, with an area of 27,002.15 hectares, located in the municipalities of El Rama and Muelle de los Bueyes, in the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean Coast. Nicaragua also granted that same firm another mining concession for the exploitation of minerals in the lot called Achuapa, with an area of 18,143.19 hectares, located in the municipalities of San Juan de Limay and Estelí, of the department (province) of Estelí, and Achuapa and El Sauce, of the province of León. And a third title in the lot called Hemco Sid, with an area of 3,752.47 hectares, located in the municipalities of San Isidro and Ciudad Darío, in the province of Matagalpa, according to the information.

I had only granted permits to Chinese companies

In total, the Executive led by the spouses and co-presidents, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, has granted five mining concessions to that same company in the last two days for a total of 57,287 hectares.

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In mid-April, the U.S. sanctioned two of Ortega and Murillo's children, a vice minister, four other individuals, and seven mining companies, all involved in the extraction and commercialization of gold in the Central American country. According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, those sanctioned "help the Murillo and Ortega dictatorship generate funds and maintain political control in Nicaragua" and are "involved in the forced seizure of properties of U.S. citizens in Nicaragua" linked to the gold sector. After those sanctions, Nicaragua had only granted mining permits to Chinese companies. Nicaragua's mining exports amounted to $2,009.2 million in 2025, which represented an increase of 44.4% compared to 2024 ($1,391.6 million), according to the annual report of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific) and data from the Central Bank. Raw gold consolidated as Nicaragua's main export product, with revenues of $1.971 billion, equivalent to 22.7% of the total exported, and a volume of 19.9 metric tons, marking a historical milestone, according to official data. The United States, Canada, Switzerland, and the European Union were the main destinations for Nicaraguan gold, according to the information.