Two Mining Conflicts in Mazapil, Zacatecas: Between Opposition, Negotiation and Collaboration

Abstract

This article analyzes the socio-environmental conflicts around two large mining projects in Mazapil, Zacatecas: Peñasquito and Tayahua. The objective is to illustrate the complex connection of political relations between the different actors involved in these conflicts and how these relations evolve over time. The methodology focuses on participatory observation in Zacatecas and employs the technique of actor mapping. The results reveal that organized groups of local residents have taken diverse stances and strategies to confront mega-mining in Mazapil, from opposition to negotiation and collaboration. It is concluded that opposition, negotiation, and collaboration stances can have a tense coexistence within the same territory. Thus, the category of complex social-environmental conflicts of multiple postures is introduced to overcome the limitations associated with classification schemes that seek to categorize socio-environmental conflicts in accordance with the binomial of opposition versus negotiation. One limitation of this research is that it does not explore development alternatives on the local level; this is pending for future projects.