What is mining? Definition, types and what the Ley Minera does not cover

Mining is the exploration, extraction and processing of minerals from the subsoil. In Mexico it is regulated by the federal Ley Minera, which distinguishes between concessionable minerals and excluded materials such as construction rock. In 2023, mining contributed 2.7% of national gross domestic product, down 2.0% from the prior year, according to the Servicio Geológico Mexicano (SGM).

Key facts

• Mining splits into metallic (gold, silver, copper, iron) and non-metallic (limestone, fluorite, celestite, sand, gravel).
• The Ley Minera regulates concessionable minerals; its Article 5 exempts certain materials.
• National mining GDP was 2.7% of the total in 2023, down 2.0%, per the SGM.
• Rock used only for construction materials does not require a federal mining concession.
• A stone quarry (banco de materiales) is not the same as a concessioned mine.

What is mining, and what is a concessionable mineral?

Mining covers the search for, extraction and processing of minerals present in the subsoil or in surface deposits. In Mexico, the federal Ley Minera governs this activity: it defines which minerals require a concession granted by the federal government to be extracted, and under what conditions that concession operates.

A concessionable mineral is, broadly, one whose extraction requires that title. The law does not list a closed set of concessionable minerals; instead, it sets specific exceptions in Article 5. Those exceptions are the entry point for understanding why not every extractive activity — nor every "quarry" or "pit" — is legally concessioned mining.

The Servicio Geológico Mexicano publishes the Anuario Estadístico de la Minería Mexicana every year, the official source for sizing the sector: production by mineral and by state, production value and employment in the mining-metallurgical sector.

What is the difference between metallic and non-metallic mining?

Metallic mining extracts minerals with metal content: gold, silver, copper, iron, zinc and lead are the most common in Mexico. They are processed to obtain the metal, and often require beneficiation, smelting or refining plants depending on the mineral and its use.

Non-metallic mining extracts minerals without that metal content. In Coahuila this includes limestone, fluorite, celestite, barite and stone aggregates — gravel and sand — used directly or after simple physical processes: crushing, screening, washing. They do not go through smelting.

The distinction matters for the legal framework: much of the non-metallic mining dedicated to construction materials falls under the Ley Minera exceptions explained below, while metallic mining generally operates under a concession.

What does the Ley Minera regulate in Mexico?

The Ley Minera is federal law and of public interest. It regulates the exploration, extraction and processing of minerals or substances that, in their original composition, form deposits distinct in nature from the surrounding land.

It sets the mining concession regime: who can apply for one, its term, the concession holder's obligations — minimum work commitments, fee payments — and the grounds for cancellation.

The Ley Minera, however, does not regulate everything that happens in the Mexican subsoil. Its Article 5 lists activities and materials excluded from its application, and that is where construction materials come in.

What does the Ley Minera exclude for construction materials?

Article 5 of the Ley Minera, as amended in the reform published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on May 8, 2023, exempts from the law's application, among other cases, two sections relevant to construction:

• Section IV: rock or its decomposition products that can only be used to manufacture construction materials.
• Section V: decomposition products from rock, when they are extracted by open-pit work.

In practice, this separates two activities that are sometimes confused: concessioned mining (gold, silver, copper, coal, fluorite, celestite when extracted as ore) and the extraction of rock destined only for construction (gravel, sand, base, ballast), which falls outside the federal mining concession regime.

That second activity is not left unregulated: it moves to other laws and levels of government, mainly environmental, as detailed in the article on quarries and how they are regulated.

Does a quarry need a mining concession?

No, as long as the extracted rock is destined only for construction materials: it falls under the exception in Article 5, sections IV and V, of the Ley Minera. That is why the SGM itself, in the glossary of its 2023 Anuario, defines a banco de materiales (quarry) as an open-pit excavation for extracting stone material for the construction industry — a figure distinct from a concessioned mine.

This does not mean an absence of permits altogether. Federal environmental law leaves states in charge of controlling pollution from the use of these rocks, and state and municipal authorities set their own land-use and operating requirements, explained in more detail in the article on what a quarry is and how it is regulated.

The aggregates produced by Triturados Gramol, a Grupo Server company — gravel, sand, ballast, base and asphalt surface course — are stone material for construction: the case that article 5 of the Ley Minera leaves outside the concession regime.

How does Grupo Server help?

Triturados Gramol, a Grupo Server company founded in 2003, produces stone aggregates — gravel, sand, ballast, base and asphalt surface course — with two operating plants, one in Coahuila and one in San Luis Potosí. You can review its product line on the Triturados Gramol page and see the rest of the group's construction operation in the construction section.

For questions about aggregate supply for a specific project, the contact form connects directly with Grupo Server at its offices in Saltillo, Coahuila.