Caribbean & Central America - July 2026

The resumption of operations of the massive Fénix nickel project, which is owned by Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), a subsidiary of Switzerland-based mining company Solway Investment Group, has drawn concerns from indigenous groups – a key plank of the support base of President Bernardo Arévalo’s left-of-centre government which, since taking office in January 2024, has moved to halt other unpopular mining projects such as the Cerro Blanco gold mining operation [EB-24-05].

Located in El Estor municipality in the eastern department of Izabal, the project had been on hold since 2022, when the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) sanctioned CGN and a Solway subsidiary, Compañia Procesadora de Níquel (Pronico), along with two executives with ties to the mining project, Russian national Dmitry Kudryakov and Belarusian national Iryna Litviniuk over allegations of bribery and corruption. The two saw their contracts with CGN terminated.

The companies were then delisted from the sanctions in 2024 while Solway carried out corporate restructuring which saw CGN and ProNiCo moved to New York City, under US jurisdiction. This laid the groundwork for the resumption of the project, which was further boosted in August 2024 when Guatemala’s government reactivated the export licenses for Solway Group’s subsidiaries.

The mine is among the oldest and largest in Guatemala but has long been rejected by members of the Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Agua Caliente, who have lived on the land for centuries. Having undergone various shifts in corporate ownership, the mine was acquired in 2011 by Solway and began operating in 2014. In July 2019, Guatemala’s constitutional court (CC) suspended its operating licence on the grounds that it violated the right to consultation with local communities. It then upheld its ruling in June 2020 [EB-20-07], before the mining and energy ministry suspended the mine’s operating licence in February 2021, although in January 2022 Solway announced it had been permitted to reactivate operations after carrying out a consultation process in December 2021.

It has remained controversial. In March 2022, international non-profit journalists’ organisation Forbidden Stories published ‘Mining Secrets’, based on a trove of documents obtained through a data leak from Solway Group, which revealed alleged efforts to conceal environmental damages, bribes made to police and local community leaders, plans to displace local communities, and surveillance of journalists investigating the project. Meanwhile, in December 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued a ruling which found that the Guatemalan State had violated indigenous rights by allowing nickel mining on land in El Estor [EB-24-01].

President Arévalo’s government is seeking to assuage concerns about the project,  which it has declared an important economic opportunity for Izabal and the country. In an interview with national daily Prensa Libre, published on 21 May, deputy mining and energy minister Erwin Barrios, said that his ministry would be supervising the mine, with operating techniques monitored, and the prevention of environmental risks a priority. He added that the environment ministry and the national council of protected areas (Conap) would also be involved in overseeing operations. According to Prensa Libre, in preparation for the resumption of operations, the mining company invested US$85m between 2025 and 2026 for the maintenance and modernisation of facilities.

Production

According to the 21 May Prensa Libre report, the mine is expected to produce 17,000 tonnes (t) of nickel and ferronickel (an alloy of iron and nickel) in 2026, with this expected to rise to 25,000 t in 2027.