Mining Frontiers and Policy in Mexico: / Política y fronteras mineras en México: Deepening Extractivism, Environmental Pressures, and Mining Conflicts / profundización del extractivismo, presiones ambientales y conflictos mineros
Bibliographic record
Abstract
abstract: This article analyzes the recent expansion of mining frontiers in Mexico by presenting a national-scale cartography of concessions, projects, and operating mines updated through 2024 and comparing it with earlier baselines. It characterizes extraction methods and the increasing predominance of open-pit mining; conducts a comparative analysis of corporate ownership to assess changes in the participation of Canadian and Mexican firms in metal extraction; and evaluates spatial overlaps between mining footprints, groundwater and surface water scarcity, and conservation areas. The study documents a sharp rise in socioenvironmental conflicts over the past decade, with 372 cases recorded in 2024. The evidence points to a fourth mining frontier, driven by adjacent intensification at the margins of existing districts rather than by entry into new territories. This pattern deepens extractivism, amplifies cumulative environmental pressures, and aligns with the observed escalation of conflict. resumen: Este artículo analiza la reciente expansión de las fronteras mineras en México mediante la presentación de una cartografía armonizada a escala nacional de concesiones, proyectos y minas en operación, actualizada hasta 2024 y comparable con referencias previas. Se caracteriza el predominio creciente de la minería a cielo abierto y los métodos de extracción empleados; se realiza un análisis comparativo de la propiedad corporativa para evaluar los cambios en la participación de empresas canadienses y mexicanas en la extracción de metales; y se examinan las superposiciones espaciales entre la huella minera, la escasez de agua subterránea y superficial, y las áreas de conservación. El estudio documenta un aumento significativo de los conflictos socioambientales en la última década, con 372 casos registrados en 2024. Conceptualmente, los resultados apuntan al surgimiento de una cuarta frontera minera, impulsada por la intensificación adyacente en los márgenes de los distritos mineros existentes, más que por la entrada en nuevos territorios, un patrón que profundiza el extractivismo, acumulativas, agrava las presiones ambientales acumuladas y se alinea con la escalada de conflictos observada.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".