Calica Mine Lands to Become Ecological Restoration Zone, Conanp Says

Cancún, Quintana Roo — The lands of the Calica limestone mine will be classified as an ecological restoration zone under the management program for the Felipe Carrillo Puerto Natural Protected Area, which officials expect to publish this year.

Pedro Álvarez Icaza Longoria, national commissioner of Mexico’s Natural Protected Areas Commission (Conanp), said the document is finished and that the only remaining step before it becomes official is the legal closure of the international arbitration case.

According to the commissioner, the federal government is waiting for the deadline to pass for the parties to decide whether to challenge the award issued by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in the case brought by Vulcan Materials. Once that path is settled, the program will be published.

Under the plan, the stone extraction zone will be designated for restoration, while the Punta Venado site would come under federal control, as President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has previously said.

Álvarez Icaza explained the delay: “The management program is going very well, everything is defined. The area where Calica was will be an ecological restoration zone and we are about to publish it. Why didn’t we do it before? We were waiting for the international ICSID resolution.”

The Conanp chief described the arbitration outcome as favorable for Mexico, saying the country “won by losing.”

ICSID examined Vulcan’s claim for more than $1.9 billion under the USMCA trade agreement after the closure of Calica and its port. The panel did find treaty violations, but reduced the compensation to $19.1 million — barely 1% of the amount sought.

For the Mexican government, the award affirms the state’s authority to shut down operations over environmental damage, while carrying an obligation to compensate specific investments.

Asked whether the land would be purchased or what would happen legally with the company, the commissioner declined to speculate: “I couldn’t say that.”

The Felipe Carrillo Puerto protected area, decreed in 2024, covers more than 50,000 hectares between Solidaridad and Tulum and includes the polygon of the Calizas Industriales del Carmen (Calica) mine, which was shut down over environmental damage.

The management program is the governing document that sets out what can and cannot be done inside the protected area. Without its publication, conservation and restoration measures cannot be fully applied.