The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, through the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), granted a new mining concession of 13,350 hectares to the company Nicaragua Xiajng Mining Group Sociedad Anónima, the twelfth company to which the regime has awarded mining concessions in the country.
According to the Wednesday, December 17 edition of La Gaceta, the official government gazette, the concession is located in the “Cerro Simón–Lugar El Socorro” lot, in the municipality of Nueva Guinea, on the South Caribbean Coast. The concession was requested by Qixiong Tong, a Chinese national for whom there are no public records regarding his track record in this economic sector.
As with all concessions, the term is 25 years, although the company must begin exploration activities in any part of the mining lot within a period not exceeding four years from the granting of the concession.
They must comply with requirements
The company, like the others, must pay a three percent royalty on the value of the substances extracted as an extraction right. They must annually, or whenever required by the MEM, provide information on their activities, as well as on cooperation and support agreements for artisanal mining.
Concession holders must, prior to carrying out any mining activity, request permission from the owners of the lands located within the concession area, and must negotiate and agree with them on the terms and compensation for land use.
More than 6 percent of the territory has been given away
Since the Ortega–Murillo regime reestablished diplomatic relations with China in December 2021 through October 21, 2025, it has handed over 6.38 percent of the national territory to Chinese mining companies.
The total area of the concessions exceeds the surface area of the department of Río San Juan (7,540.90 km²) and is significantly larger than the 3,465.10 km² of the department of Managua.
Between October 10 and 20, the MEM granted 11 new concessions, which caused the share of territory conceded to China to jump from 5 percent to 6.38 percent in just one week.
Controversial concessions
The Chinese companies that received the concessions have not announced the start of mining-related activities in the awarded areas. However, some of them have already been involved in abusive and anti-business practices.
One such case is Zhong Fu Development, which in September forcibly took over— with the support of the police—the BHMB Mining Palacagüina mining facility in Madriz, a property that legally belongs to BHMB Mining Nicaragua, a subsidiary of the U.S.-capital company BHMB Inc. In addition, this company received, through a transfer, the concession of a mining company linked to the head of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Salvador Mansell, who has been sanctioned by the United States since November 2021.
A similar case occurred with Nicaragua XinXin Linze Mining Group S.A., which was the first to receive concessions for areas located within the Indio Maíz and Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve, which under environmental laws should be protected from such activities. According to an investigation published by LA PRENSA in November, despite not owning mines or processing plants, this company exported 25.6 million dollars’ worth of Nicaraguan gold to Miami between January and August 2025.
Read also: U.S. imposes new tariffs on Nicaragua starting January 2026, but avoids changing DR-Cafta terms
The interests of the dictatorship
According to economist and political analyst Enrique Sáenz, granting concessions to Chinese companies pursues political and economic objectives. Politically, they calculate that by generating interests derived from investment and trade, they will achieve a strategic alliance that secures the support of the Chinese regime to guarantee the Ortega-Murillo family’s permanence in power. Economically, they seek to increase their own businesses.
“The problem is that compared to Chinese economic interests in other Latin American countries, the size of Nicaragua’s economy does not allow for large-scale investments. In addition, with the uncertainty in trade relations with the United States, the regime thinks this way they will at least have a guaranteed market for gold,” Sáenz said in previous statements to LA PRENSA.
Sáenz even believes that these concessions do not reflect a Chinese interest in controlling Nicaraguan territory. Rather, they show the dictatorship’s eagerness to demonstrate that it is bringing large Chinese investments into the country.
“To prove this, the dictatorship is willing to mortgage the entire territory, as it already did with Wang Jing. So in addition to the Interoceanic Canal card, we would be seeing mega-projects that for now are nowhere to be seen. I believe Ortega has made them offers they cannot refuse. The concessions are practically a gift,” Sáenz asserts.
Investigations by LA PRENSA have also demonstrated the direct connection between the Ortega family and the mining business, through the Minero Xiloá Group, S.A., a company capable of producing 30,000 ounces of gold per year at its plant in Villanueva, Chinandega, which previously belonged to the state-owned company Eniminas, sanctioned by the United States in 2022.
