The Chinese company Xinxin Linze Mineria Group Sociedad Anónima sold US$25.6 million worth of Nicaraguan gold between January and August this year to Miami, Florida according to an investigation by LA PRENSA.
Xinxin Linze Mineria Group has stood out as one of the «darlings» of the dictatorship and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) headed by Salvador Mansell, who has been sanctioned by the United States. So far, Xinxin has received 10 concessions from the MEM to explore 155,055 hectares, a series of allocations that require time and resources to get off the ground, according to specialists consulted, who believe that while it manages to exploit one of the full-fledged concessions, the Chinese company would be making profits by exporting gold to the United States.
According to Importgenius, a platform that provides access to data on global transactions, the Chinese company has made 11 shipments of raw gold to the United States this year, beginning in late January and accelerating in April. The merchandise cost $25.48 million.
The commercial transactions were dispatched from the Central Air Cargo Customs Office in Nicaragua with the code HSN71081200, corresponding to gold in the international goods classification system. Xinxin in Nicaragua is represented by Lijun Dong, general administrator and identified with residence card number 000117170. She is unknown in business circles.
Open doors for Xinxin while closing them to others
Not everyone is so lucky. While the dictatorship’s authorities favor the Chinese, they have also increased control since April over other gold exporters , who now need state approval to do so, which the MEM grants sparingly and selectively.
The official designated to deny or approve this permit is allegedly the Deputy Minister of Mines, Santiago Bermúdez. «He is Mansell’s second in command. The fate of these businessmen is practically in his hands,» said one of the sources.
According to export data, after the incursion of Xixin Linze Mineria Group, at least three companies stopped doing business with the same customer in Miami, when they had done so in 2024. LA PRENSA attempted to locate three contacts in the sector, but silence prevails.
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Booming gold business
Nicaragua is a regional leader in the gold business. According to the Central Bank, the country sold $1.3539 billion in 2024, a success so great that Mansell boasted in August about Nicaragua’s «leadership» in Central America and offered some data showing that the industry is booming, both formally and in artisanal mining. The price of gold in the international market has reached well $4,000 an ounce.
Mansell stated that in 2006 there were 7,000 artisanal miners and now there are more than 40,000, while eight industrial companies are established. He also said that between 12 and 14 Chinese companies were in the «gold exploration and exploitation phase, in addition to investors from Canada and England.»
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How does Xinxin manage to export so much gold?
Xinxin, which is supposedly one of those Chinese companies Mansell mentioned, does not currently own any gold veins that it can exploit, nor does it have any facilities where it can process gold. All the regime has given it are exploration permits, in other words, it is at a very early stage of the mining business in Nicaragua. However, in just eight months, the Chinese company has exported more than $25 million worth of gold to the United States.
In May 2025, Xinxin Linze Mining Group requested that two of its concessions be transferred to another unknown company: Linze Excelente Minería. According to Law No. 387, mining licenses are valid for 25 years and are renewable. In the resolution in favor of Linze, the authorities set a four-year deadline—extendable for one more year—to begin exploration activities, the stage prior to exploitation of the resource, which will then give way to profits.
Handing the country over to China
The dictatorship reestablished relations with mainland China in December 2021 after scandalously breaking off a three-decade relationship with Taiwan. Since then, in addition to opening the doors to Chinese businesses and signing countless agreements and contracts that are indebting Nicaragua to China, it has devoted itself to granting gigantic exploration concessions to supposed Chinese mining companies.
To date, the regime has handed over 6.38 percent of the national territory to Chinese mining companies through exploration concessions. The total area of the concessions exceeds the surface area of the province of Río San Juan (7,540.90 km2).
Between October 10 and 20, the MEM granted eleven new concessions, increasing the territory concessioned to Chinese companies from 5 percent to 6.38 percent in just one week.
Since the reestablishment of relations, the Sandinista Front leadership has been docile toward China. This stance contrasts with Ortega’s frequent criticism of Europe and the United States. The regime has moved closer to the Asian power to avoid accountability for human rights abuses committed since 2018, following repeated allegations by officials from the Organization of American States and investigators from the United Nations (UN), the United States, and Europe.
The Nicaraguan mining industry is under scrutiny by the Treasury Department, which announced sanctions in 2017 against the Nicaraguan Mining Company (ENIMINAS), created to regulate the granting of mining concessions to foreign and domestic companies. Ortega’s son, Laureano, and Minister Salvador Mansell have also been sanctioned by the United States.
