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"Gold-rich Nicaragua hands Chinese miners rights to a tenth of its land", Financial Times, 27 Sep 2026

The Central American autocracy has awarded 80 concessions that together cover land roughly the size of Northern Ireland to Chinese miners since 2023, according to FT analysis of government data.

Since 2023, 16 Chinese companies, mostly small and medium-sized, have won more new concessions than all other miners combined, Nicaraguan state data shows. The licences, which are not limited to specific metals or minerals, cover exploration and development of 1.4mn hectares, equivalent to 11 per cent of the country.

Nicaraguan non-profits say they are concerned about Chinese miners’ reputation for low environmental standards, particularly since Ortega has also gutted his country’s protections. Without the right safeguards, gold mining can cause damage through the use of arsenic or mercury to process the ore.

“The dismantling of the environmental legal system happened alongside the entry of Chinese mining companies,” said Amaru Ruiz, president of Fundación del Río, a Nicaraguan environmental non-profit. He noted some concessions also include indigenous land and protected reserves.

Ortega’s co-president Rosario Murillo, who is also his wife, declined to comment in response to written questions about the concessions.

China’s foreign ministry said it was unaware of the specifics of the mining licences but that it encourages Chinese companies abroad to co-operate for “win-win outcomes”. “We firmly oppose any attempt to politicise normal commercial co-operation or overstretch the concept of security,” it said.