Mexican Mining Stock Permits Get Granted And PM Companies Start To Rerate
Excelsior Prosperity w/ Shad Marquitz (07-29-2025)
Almost a year back, at the Beaver Creek Precious Metals Summit in September of 2024, there were a few big news items that created a buzz under the surface of that event, when in conversations with investors discussing the scuttlebutt of the day. One would first need to set aside the preamble and soft prelaunch of Argenta Silver, as well as the announcement of the ex-Osino team taking the helm over at Koryx Copper… After those, then the next biggest news item that percolated the Beaver Creek event was when someone from a silver company in attendance mentioned on stage during their presentation that Mexico President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s "100 Steps for Transformation" came out and had removed the line about banning open pit mining (if memory serves it was line #87) That Mexican mining news moved through the conference like a shockwave.
I remember seeing a number of silver and gold stocks in Mexico get a pop that day, on the back of this latest development and “breaking news.”
Many investors were getting more optimistic that the incoming Claudia Sheinbaum administration would be more business-friendly and pragmatic about how essential open-pit mining is from metals to gravel and sand, and from silver to lithium.
At the time, people mentioned that the pop in the Mexican gold and silver mining stocks was just a taste of the rerating that would come to the sector once Sheinbaum was in office and the country started issuing permits again.
I agreed with that point then, and that is exactly what we’ve seen as roughly 50+ mining permit expansions and permit addendums have been issued in Mexico thus far in this new administration.
Of course, for any thinking person, it really makes no economic sense at all for Mexico to ban open-pit mining.
While there was such a bill that was proposed by Sheinbaum’s predecessor (AMLO), that was more going through the motions as a way to gain favor with certain political splinter groups in Mexico.
That bill was never ratified or put into law by the prior government. The current administration has backtracked on the overall ban of open-pit mining (which they knew full well would have been economic suicide), preferring instead to focus on not granting any “new” mining concessions.
Many casual observers don’t even realize that this was just a proposed measure but never enacted. This is due to the many media headlines that incorrectly reported to the contrary, or had biases fueling their misreporting, or simply erroneously stated that open-pit mining had been banned Mexico.
Much of the media coverage ended up being fake news, but this still caused some damage to sentiment in Mexico as a mining jurisdiction. Like usual, we never saw any retractions or corrections or accountability for these outright untruths printed and distributed through media outlets.
Unfortunately, many investors fell for the media editorials, panic-selling mining shares out of fear of imminent fallout from these supposed issues in Mexico.
What the Sheinbaum administration did, in fact, reiterate upon taking office on October 1st, 2024 was that they “would not grant new open-pit mining concessions during her administration,” as had already been outlined in her "100 Steps for Transformation" (Plan) published in July of 2024, that she ran her campaign on to win the presidential office. That plan also states in Step 8 that “existing concessions will be evaluated and may continue, provided that they have the public's approval and do not impact the environment.”
Some media outlets and investing pundits put out a lot of F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) around this line regarding the “no new mining concessions,” but clearly didn’t understand it. This stems from the fact that many of these alarmist individuals and outlets don’t seem to understand the difference between a mining concession that is initially staked as a new claim and then a fee is paid to the government for a concession, versus an actual permit on an existing project that may have well had it’s concessions in place for many years.
Most of the good mining areas – ie… the prior-producing Spanish, US, Mexican, and local artisanal run mine sites, development projects, and solid exploration targets in Mexico have had mining concessions already approved on them for dozens of years already.
So, in reality, this proclamation about “no new open-pit mining concessions” has essentially no impact on any of the ongoing permitting processes on existing projects of interest.
Most of the publicly traded mining companies purchased existing concessions that have been in place for a long time. In some ways this really is a nothing burger of a declaration, and a distraction from what operating companies with their concessions are working on, to receive various permits.
Reiterating these same talking points from her campaign promises engenders support for Claudian Sheinbaum from radical environmentalist groups or Mexican nationalists. After all, she’s making vocal statements about putting a stop new mining concessions, which placates them. This policy is irrelevant though for most publicly traded Mexican mining companies today.
Keep in mind that this policy would only apply to early-stage grassroots exploration companies trying to stake new ground and file for a concession with the government. Once again, most of the good resource ground, all across the country of Mexico, was staked and has had concessions granted for decades now.
The line that was actually more germane from Part 8 of her 100 Steps For Transformation plan was, “existing concessions will be evaluated and may continue, provided that they have the public's approval and do not impact the environment.”
Think about it… This is absolutely no different than mining laws anywhere else in the world, be it Canada, the US, Europe, or Africa.
There is always a public comment period during the permitting approval process where concerns can be raised or voiced by local communities, and then adjustments can be made to the mining plan, and then reevaluated for approval.
If a mine anywhere is not holding up to the environmental laws after getting approval, then it can be shut down. That is the same in every part of the globe if a company were to ignore national environmental laws or negatively impact the well-being of the local communities.
All mines need to have their Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) approved and in place before they can proceed with development and construction. In Mexico this EIA is called the (MIA)… but it’s the same thing, and really it the same situation everywhere in that regard.
Fast-forward to July of 2025, and there was a whole new freakout in the mining sector after Claudia Scheinbaum simply reiterated, once again, that there would be no new mining concessions granted and that existing concessions would be evaluated based on their environmental impact. My goodness did we see a lot of fear mongering from some uninformed individuals and media outlets, including some totally wacko supposed silver groups or academies, that spend most days posting click-bait inflammatory fake news on business & politics to gullible readers.
One of these groups (only formed a few years ago by people most professionals in the mining business have never even heard of) gave advice for everyone to sell their Mexican mining stocks as no new mining concessions meant that Mexican mining was in peril, and then they extrapolated out that their government was setting up to nationalize its silver and gold mines.
This is totally nuts and totally incorrect garbage. Just for a frame of reference, not too long after that another one of their recent editorials mentioned tracking Trump’s semen-stained sheets for evidence of his misdoings… so, this is the kind of quackery that comes out of some of these media outlets or ‘academies,’ and yet people are reading their editorials and taking their investing advice and their twisted views of the news from Mexico as the gospel truth; and then taking evasive action because of it.
It’s sad that these extreme news groups are given any airtime, or that their totally off-based editorials got reposted so many in this recent Mexican mining flare up.
It’s disgusting, in a way, that people and organizations like that, with silver in their namesake and operating under the guise of educating investors, are actually pumping out complete fear-based disinformation, combined with terrible investing advice.
Those kinds of unsubstantiated claims of the coming nationalization of mines and advice to “sell all your Mexican mining companies” actually harms the overall silver industry, and hurts many silver companies that have operations in Mexico.
Additionally, these poppycock pronouncements hurt investors that may not understand the difference between granting no new mining concessions versus companies seeking permits on existing concessions; or that may believe their drivel that Mexico is about to nationalize all their precious metals mines (which is flat out balderdash).
What is unfortunate for local stakeholders is that if investors sell their silver and gold stocks in Mexico on the back of this kind of disinformation, then it also hurts all the Mexican people employed by mining companies, and the related support industries like drillers, survey companies, trucking companies, security companies, assay labs, and so on.
I’m blessed and thankful that I get the good fortune of speaking to management teams from a number of actual mining companies operating in Mexico, to get their in-country experience, observations, and assessment of the situation. These teams have local staff in country and boots-on-the-ground communications with the government agencies as they work to advance their permits.
One of the individuals that I’ve talked with regularly for the last few years about the actual reality of the permitting environment in Mexico is Glenn Jessome, the President and CEO of Silver Tiger Metals (TSX.V:SLVR – OTCQX:SLVTF). In full disclosure, as readers of this channel already know, I’m an existing shareholder, and Silver Tiger Metals is also a sponsor of the KE Report, so I’m biased in those ways. Regardless, Glenn really does watch everything going on in Mexico with an eagle eye as to any new developments or permitting milestones from any company, and he is one of the more well-informed people I’ve come across on the Mexican permitting situation.
On July 9th, over at the KE Report, Glenn Jessome, joined me to outline the importance of their imminent Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the underground mine at their 100% owned, silver-gold El Tigre Project in Mexico. We then expand the conversation to highlight some upcoming blue-sky regional drilling that the exploration team will commence this fall around the La Protectora historic mine on trend with El Tigre. Wrapping up, I also had Glenn separate the facts from the media hyperbole as it relates to mining and permitting in Mexico.
{below is a hotlink that should jump readers here right to the point at the end of that interview where Glenn breaks down many of the misunderstandings and misreadings of the permitting environment in Mexico, many of the positive statements issued by the government in support of mining, and a meeting that they just attended with other companies in country}
Silver Tiger – The Underground PEA At El Tigre Is Imminent, Regional Drilling To Commence This Fall At La Protectora, and Mexican Permitting Is On-Track
UPDATE: Over at the KE Report we hosted a live webinar with Silver Tiger on July 30 where Glenn got back into permitting in Mexico in a couple of spots in the middle and end of the talk.
{This hot link should take you right to where I initially ask him about permitting in Mexico at the 5:09 minute mark:}
Another company I recently spoke with regarding the permitting in Mexico, is Ken MacLeod, President and CEO of Sonoro Gold Corp (TSXV: SGO) (OTCQB: SMOFF). Ken joined me on July 8th to review the value proposition for their flagship Cerro Caliche Gold Project. We discussed their key exploration and development initiatives to move the project into open-pit gold and silver production within ~12 months of receiving their final permit in Mexico.
{I can’t do a hotlink on this audio podcast like I can on the YouTube embedded posts, but if you go to the 4:40 min mark, that is where Ken discussed what they’ve learned in their ongoing permitting process for their EIA or (MIA in Mexico), which leads us into the topic of mining and permitting in Mexico, and dispelling the media negative spin.}
In that interview linked above with Ken from Sonoro Gold, he makes the point that many of the 50+ permits that we’ve seen issued thus far are on underground mines, or they are approvals for permitting addendums on existing open-pit mines going through expansions.
Ken sees these permits granted thus far by the Claudia Sheinbaum administration as the precursor to the eventual environmental permits and open-pit mine permits for companies (like Sonoro Gold or Silver Tiger) that have already submitted everything to the government for permitting approvals.
Both Ken and Glenn agree that when we start seeing more mining permits get issued in Mexico, that this will be a big rerating process for most of the gold and silver companies operating in country. I completely agree, because that is exactly what we’ve seen playing out as more permits have been granted.
👉 One of the best case studies for the rerating that these Mexican precious metals stocks can experience, once they finally receive their permits to proceed with building a new mine, is what we saw play out with Avino Silver and Gold (NYSE American: ASM) (TSX: ASM).
Avino was one of the first companies out of the gate in January, that got a permit addendum to proceed with developing their underground mine at La Preciosa:
Avino Commences Underground Development at La Preciosa - January 15, 2025
“Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (ASM: TSX/NYSE American, GV6: FSE) a long-standing silver producer in Mexico, reports that underground development at its 100%-owned La Preciosa Property has commenced following receipt of all required permits for mining operations.”
https://avino.com/news/2025/avino-commences-underground-development-at-la-preciosa/
Well, just take a look at the price action on this daily chart for Avino Silver & Gold from January 15th through present.
Yes, we also had a bullish silver and gold price environment, but very few PM companies outperformed Avino over this period. Their vast outperformance encapsulates the rerating that they’ve also been getting in their valuation, ever since getting their final permits.
Alamos Gold (NYSE: AGI) (TSX: AGI) was another example of a PM producer that got off to a quick start in 2025 with a key environmental MIA permit amendment being granted.
Alamos Gold Announces Receipt of Environmental Permit Amendment Allowing for the Start of Construction on the Puerto Del Aire Project in Mexico - January 29, 2025
“Alamos Gold Inc. announced today that it has been granted approval of an amendment to its existing environmental impact assessment (Manifestación de Impacto Ambiental “MIA") by Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (“SEMARNAT”), allowing for the start of construction on the Puerto Del Aire project located within the Mulatos District.”
Again, yes, we had a constructive year with PM prices which helped all producers, like Alamos Gold. However, that permit addendum being granted in late January to Alamos was widely noted across the industry as a positive development for Mexican mining permitting, and it has continued to rerate higher since then.
One more recent example is what we saw play out when HelioStar Metals (TSX.V: HSTR) (OTCQX:HSTXF) just announced on July 22nd, the restart of mining operations at the San Agustin mine in Mexico, after receipt of key permits enabling pit expansion and also a modification to increase the leach pad height. These developments where they push back into the corner of their L-shaped pit, in tandem with being able to add more ore to their leach pads will increase production, which expected to start coming off the pads in Q4 2025.
Despite many PM stocks correcting over the last couple of weeks, one can clearly see that big pop higher in (HSTR.V) on July 22nd from and open at $1.20 up to an intraday peak of $1.38 on July 23rd, before succumbing to the sector weakness and pulling back down.
It may not seem like a lot yet, but the news is out that Heliostar got their permit modification, and other Mexican miners popped in sympathy on the same day.
Minera Alamos (MAI.V) popped up about 18% on July 22nd in tandem with Heliostar’s permitting news in Mexico. As many will remember, Minera Alamos is similarly awaiting a permit to begin development and construction of their Cerro de Oro Project in Mexico.
Discovery Silver (DSV.TO) popped up close to 10% on July 22nd in tandem with Heliostar’s permitting news in Mexico. As many will remember, Discovery Silver is similarly awaiting a permit to begin development of their Cordero Silver Project in Mexico.
Bottom line: While those moves outlined above were somewhat fleeting daily performance, it still demonstrates that resource investors are paying attention to these permitting milestones in Mexico. When more companies start to get issued new permits (and not just addendums), then improving sentiment will begin to act as a tailwind for most of the Mexican PM mining stocks.
Despite all the negative media narratives and hit pieces touting fake news about the supposed banning of open-pit mining in Mexico and the imminent nationalization of PM mines; investors are starting to see through the illogical supposition of those false narratives.
People are starting to realize that the quality companies, did complete all their environmental baseline studies and mining engineering and economic studies and submitted them properly to the Mexican government for review. As a result, more and more companies are eventually going to get their permits, just like Avino, Alamos, and Heliostar did…
When that permitting news drops for a given company, especially any brand new permits, then there will also be large associated pops to the upside. My personal thesis is that better long-term valuations will accrue as these stocks rerate.
We’ll keep tabs on the permitting developments within Mexico, but anticipate continuing to see more permits granted as positive tailwinds within the industry.
Thanks for reading and may you have prosperity in you trading and in life!
Shad