Mexico’s Bid for Calica Mine Continues

Playa del Carmen, Mexico — The Mexican government is maintaining negotiations initiated by the federal administration to purchase the Calica mine and the port of Punta Venado from the Vulcan Materials Company. The new administration is continuing with the offers that were previously rejected by the American company during the term of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The company argued that what the Mexican government offered for its assets in Quintana Roo did not cover even half of their real cost.

One year into the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, officials are analyzing the use that should be given to the protected natural area, which includes the 2,400 hectares owned by Vulcan Material in Playa del Carmen.

“We are trying to reach an agreement. Number one, that this zone where they were exploiting, which is their property, could be used for another purpose; for example, low-impact tourism,” stated the president. “We are analyzing, let's say, in the extreme case, how much it would cost to buy the land and the port or the port concession from them.”

As recently as June 25, 2024, Vulcan Materials issued a statement regarding the conflict with the Mexican government in which it definitively rejected the offer to purchase the Calica mine in Playa del Carmen. The company considered the proposal from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “substantially undervalued” its limestone assets and the Punta Venado port.

The company stated it was a victim of “political threats, abuses of authority, and false accusations” by the Mexican government to try to justify the conversion of its lands in Playa del Carmen into a Protected Natural Area, according to the company's statement.

They further indicated that the plan announced by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to convert the Calica mine into a tourist space would not provide any benefit for the population, “but for private purposes of commercial tourism and large cruise ship operations, as well as naval activities. We will not accept this illegal expropriation of our investments.”

AMLO had intended to reach a purchase agreement for the 2,400 hectares that this company owns in Playa del Carmen through its subsidiary Calica. These negotiations involve pausing the process of declaring that land surface a Protected Natural Area, which was announced as a measure to prevent the continued extractive activity that Calica was carrying out on these lands to export construction material to the United States. This measure was ultimately fulfilled, as Calica is now part of a natural reserve declared hours before López Obrador's term ended.

The purchase proposal for the 2,400 hectares that the company owns in Playa del Carmen amounted to 6.5 billion pesos. With this, the Mexican government simultaneously sought to settle the international litigation that Vulcan Materials filed against the Mexican government in dispute resolution bodies under the framework of the Mexico, United States, and Canada Agreement (USMCA), through which it claims an indemnity payment of 1.9 billion dollars.