MINING IN MEXICO — Minerals play an industrial role

The growth of Mexico’s mineral industry needs to be viewed within the context of the country’s industrial expansion and diversification.

Mexico’s ambitious plans for industrialization have stimulated programs for mineral exploration, while the discovery of abundant and high-grade mineral reserves has provided the potential for the creation of new industries. Mexico’s drive to exploit its mineral potential has also been in line with its strategy of import substitution for industrial development — a strategy designed to reduce dependence on external sources of supply. A number of examples exist in Mexico to demonstrate this interplay between minerals availability and industrial growth. The iron ore deposits of Cerro de Mercado in Durango and coal of the Sabinas Basin in Coahuila were the basis for the development of the large iron and steel works around Monterrey in 1903.

The establishment of an iron and steel complex at Lazaro Cardena in 1976, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, was based on the nearby iron ore deposits at Las Truchas.

Mexico’s position after Brazil as a leading ferroalloy producer in Latin America is directly related to good supplies of natural gas and manganese. The metal fabrication and mechanical industries are sustained by an ample domestic supply of copper, lead, zinc and other metallic minerals. The abundance of silver has fostered an important jewelry and tableware industry, especially in Taxco. Silver coins are minted for the numismatic and investment markets.

Ample reserves of sulphur, salt, sodium carbonate and other industrial minerals made possible the development of efficient and diversified glass and chemical industries.

Mexico’s construction industry has been bolstered by the availability of limestone and gypsum in many parts of the country for the production of cement.

The rapid growth of the fertilizer industry is based on foreign sources of phosphate rock and domestic sulphur and an abundance of natural gas. Vertical integration within the mineral sector has created new industries. To complement its mines and beneficiation plants, several smelters and metal refineries have been constructed, thus enabling Mexico to satisfy its internal demand for refined metals and to export value-added processed-mineral commodities.

Today, Mexico is an important producer of refined copper, gold, lead, silver and zinc. Aluminum is the only major refined metal produced entirely from imported concentrates. Tin is produced mostly from imported ores. — From “The Mineral Economy of Mexico,” U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C.