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The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has handed over more than 500,000 hectares of Nicaraguan territory for mining exploitation by Chinese companies between October 2023 and October 2025, according to official data analyzed by CONFIDENCIAL.
That’s exactly 503,562 hectares, equivalent to approximately 5,035 square kilometers (km2). The sum far exceeds the total area of several Nicaraguan departments. For example, Managua, which has an area of 3,465 km2; Chinandega, which measures approximately 4,822 km2; and Estelí, which covers an area of 2,230 km2.
Mining concessions granted to eight Chinese-owned companies
According to data compiled by CONFIDENCIAL, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has granted, as of October 3, 2025, more than 20 mining concessions to eight Chinese-owned companies. These companies and their total concession areas are:
- Zhong Fu Development S.A. — 181,254.68 hectares
- Thomas Metal S.A. — 127,480.79 hectares
- Brother Metal S.A. — 59,564.75 hectares
- Waslala Mine S.A. — 49,950 hectares
- Nicaragua XinXin Linze Minería Group S.A. — 49,870.81 hectares
- Three Gold Coins Company S.A. has been granted some 23,223.53 hectares.
- Linze Excelente Minería S.A. — 9,102.05 hectares
- Northern Mining Company S.A. — 3,115.50 hectares
The Fundación del Río, an environmental non-profit now prohibited from working in Nicaragua, has denounced that these concessions are part of a systematic strategy by the Ortega regime to open up Nicaragua’s natural resources to foreign—primarily Chinese—interests, without transparency or consultation, even within protected areas.
The concessions grant exclusive rights to the Chinese companies not only for mineral extraction but also for exploration and the establishment of processing plants for metallic and non-metallic minerals in the designated zones.
Nicaragua’s mining exports reached $1.39 billion USD in 2024, representing a 20.1% increase compared to 2023, according to the Central Bank of Nicaragua.
The Most Recent Mining Concessions
The latest mining concessions to Chinese companies—covering 54,823 hectares (548.23 km²)—were granted on September 30 and October 3, 2025, according to certifications from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), published in the official government journal La Gaceta.
On Tuesday, September 30, the dictatorship awarded 49,997 hectares in the department of Río San Juan, bordering Costa Rica, to Zhong Fu Development S.A.
The MEM granted this Chinese company the open-pit mining concession for the area known as “San Agustín 1,” located between the municipalities of San Miguelito, San Carlos, and El Castillo, in the province of Río San Juan.
On Friday, October 3, the regime granted Thomas Metal S.A. two mining lots totaling 4,825 hectares in the departments of Nueva Segovia and the Southern Caribbean Coast.
The first lot, “Río Coco II,” covers 2,870 hectares in the municipality of Quilalí. The second, “La Francia Norte I,” spans 1,955 hectares in the municipality of Muelle de los Bueyes. According to the MEM, both concessions were requested on June 18, 2025, and are valid for 25 years.
Mining Concessions in Protected Areas
According to Fundación del Río, the most recent concession to Zhong Fu—along with three others granted to Chinese companies including Thomas Metal—was authorized within the Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve, which encompasses the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve and the Los Guatuzos Wildlife Refuge, both in the border area with Costa Rica.
The environmental group warns that granting these concessions constitutes a violation of the Law on the Communal Property Regime of Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Communities of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast Autonomous Regions.
This organization, led by denationalized Nicaraguan environmentalist Amaru Ruiz, explained that the approval of the Law on Environmental Conservation Areas and Sustainable Development repealed the previous decree regulating Nicaragua’s protected areas, according to statements made on May 6, 2025.
At the same time, Fundación del Río has denounced the expansion of illegal artisanal mining within the Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve and warned that these new concessions could legalize mining activity in the reserve’s core zone.
Cross-Border Impacts
The organization has also warned about “transboundary impacts” that this mining activity could have on Costa Rica, particularly in the Crucitas region, where illegal mining has reportedly increased due to the proximity of Nicaraguan concessions granted to Chinese companies and the existence of illicit trade routes in the area.
It also warned that “given the lack of transparency and the absence of independent environmental and social studies, it is impossible to know with certainty the magnitude of the impacts this new concession may have on the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve and the Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge,” adding that “it is necessary to warn about possible contamination, deforestation, and increased invasions in both protected areas.”
In April 2025, the organization reported that four large illegal mining settlements had been established in the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve following the April 2018 fire, which lasted more than ten days and destroyed over 5,000 hectares of forest.
*With information from EFE.
