Brazil. This will help the reader to gain some insight into the significance of this
industrial sector in these two countries.
2.2 History of Mining in Mexico and Brazil
2.2.1 Mexico
Mexico’s history of commercial mining started over five centuries ago (FM 2018).
Before the Spaniards came to Mexico in 1521, pre-Columbian populations had
already been interested in gold, silver, and other metals. The introduction of
European production techniques into the “New World” facilitated colonial mining,
so that flows of gold and silver from Mexican mines were transferred to the Spanish
state coffers. In the subsequent three centuries of Spanish domination, many other
minerals including copper, coal, lead, and iron (FM 2018) have been won. Since
1697, the Jesuits established various missions in Baja California, reigning the region
as an independent Jesuit political entity (Bitto 2016). The Jesuits operated productive mines in Mexico (Bitto 2016) under violation of Spanish law (Rancho
Cacachilas 2018; Haydock 2011), enslaving the local natives to mine the gold
(Zucke 2017). In the 1700s, the Jesuits benefitted from a trade with pirates, exchanging basic foodstuff against pirate booty including gold. Before the Jesuits got kicked
out of Mexico by King Charles III’s Order of Expulsion, they managed to seal the
small canyon and to destroy all documents reminding their misdeeds (Bitto 2016).
Until the 1870s, silver formed over 70% of Mexico’s total exports. Back then,
mining was mainly built on slave labor – a dangerous and precarious work under
inhuman conditions including, among others, deep narrow shafts, longer narrow
tunnels, underground flooding, and insufficient ventilation systems (FM 2018). In
the period from 1867 to 1876, President Benito Juárez tried to draw international
capital in favor of Mexico’s economic modernization by upgrading the transportation and communications infrastructure. Toward the end of the nineteenth century,
Mexico’s mining industry expanded in the era of General Diaz (FM 2018).
In the 1880s and 1890s, the Mexican mining code was reformed by including
liberal codes granting mineral rights (subsoil ownership) to landowners, removing
the previous domination of Spaniards and other European mining owners. Due to
subsoil ownership, mining concessions of several mines led to the creation of the
Compañía Minera de Peñoles in 1887 (FM 2018). Although the nationalization of
subsoil rights made investors jittery, triggering an economic crisis at the beginning
of the twentieth century, the period from 1890 to 1960 has seen several acquisitions,
mergers, and fusions with other mining companies (FM 2018). Mexico’s revolution
in 1910 prepared the ground for the revised constitution enacted in 1917, enabling
Mexico to recapture ownership of its mineral resources. Later on, in the 1930s, the
state confined the number of mining licenses, fostered the establishment of cooperative societies, and instituted the Comision de Fomento Minero (“Commission of
Mining Promotion”), paving the way for the establishment of Grupo México and
2 Mining Environmental Disasters in North and South America: The. . .
19
industrial sector in these two countries.
2.2 History of Mining in Mexico and Brazil
2.2.1 Mexico
Mexico’s history of commercial mining started over five centuries ago (FM 2018).
Before the Spaniards came to Mexico in 1521, pre-Columbian populations had
already been interested in gold, silver, and other metals. The introduction of
European production techniques into the “New World” facilitated colonial mining,
so that flows of gold and silver from Mexican mines were transferred to the Spanish
state coffers. In the subsequent three centuries of Spanish domination, many other
minerals including copper, coal, lead, and iron (FM 2018) have been won. Since
1697, the Jesuits established various missions in Baja California, reigning the region
as an independent Jesuit political entity (Bitto 2016). The Jesuits operated productive mines in Mexico (Bitto 2016) under violation of Spanish law (Rancho
Cacachilas 2018; Haydock 2011), enslaving the local natives to mine the gold
(Zucke 2017). In the 1700s, the Jesuits benefitted from a trade with pirates, exchanging basic foodstuff against pirate booty including gold. Before the Jesuits got kicked
out of Mexico by King Charles III’s Order of Expulsion, they managed to seal the
small canyon and to destroy all documents reminding their misdeeds (Bitto 2016).
Until the 1870s, silver formed over 70% of Mexico’s total exports. Back then,
mining was mainly built on slave labor – a dangerous and precarious work under
inhuman conditions including, among others, deep narrow shafts, longer narrow
tunnels, underground flooding, and insufficient ventilation systems (FM 2018). In
the period from 1867 to 1876, President Benito Juárez tried to draw international
capital in favor of Mexico’s economic modernization by upgrading the transportation and communications infrastructure. Toward the end of the nineteenth century,
Mexico’s mining industry expanded in the era of General Diaz (FM 2018).
In the 1880s and 1890s, the Mexican mining code was reformed by including
liberal codes granting mineral rights (subsoil ownership) to landowners, removing
the previous domination of Spaniards and other European mining owners. Due to
subsoil ownership, mining concessions of several mines led to the creation of the
Compañía Minera de Peñoles in 1887 (FM 2018). Although the nationalization of
subsoil rights made investors jittery, triggering an economic crisis at the beginning
of the twentieth century, the period from 1890 to 1960 has seen several acquisitions,
mergers, and fusions with other mining companies (FM 2018). Mexico’s revolution
in 1910 prepared the ground for the revised constitution enacted in 1917, enabling
Mexico to recapture ownership of its mineral resources. Later on, in the 1930s, the
state confined the number of mining licenses, fostered the establishment of cooperative societies, and instituted the Comision de Fomento Minero (“Commission of
Mining Promotion”), paving the way for the establishment of Grupo México and
2 Mining Environmental Disasters in North and South America: The. . .
19