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At lunch today a colleague posed the question, would you invest in a Mexican mining enterprise? My answer: I honestly don’t have a clue.

A rational approach could be, you have a country that is a member of the OECD, is experiencing steady post-recession growth which all seems to point to a relatively good place to do business. On the other hand you must accept the other reality, that the drug war still rages on, and the destruction and mayhem with which it is associated would make any investor wary.

I thought I’d have a look first, whether there are many mines in Mexico to start with? Initially I went on to the Company/Properties search on InfoMine, but then I decided to go see a colleague who has a map of all the Central American mines on her wall. If you are jealous, you can go here to get one. What I found was a depiction of a very well developed mining sector, almost 90% of the mines in Central America, located in Mexico. For a more comprehensive look at mining in Mexico, have a look at the country profile.

Henan Hongxing Mining Machinery Co., Ltd is a joint-stock mining machinery manufacturing enterprise integrated in scientific research, production and marketing. It is located at the High & New Technology Industries Development Zone of Zhengzhou,China with an area of 50 thousand m2 which includes 15,000 m2 of standard heavy duty industrial workshop. Equipments are more than 160 pieces, including large and medium sized metal processing, riveting and installing equipments. There are more than 660 workers including 80 administrators with secondary and senior occupational titles and engineering technicians. In order to promote the competitive strength, the advanced technologies have been introduced from America, Germany, Japan and Australia, which established the international advanced production line, first-class modern testing base as well as research centers of sand maker, mill and mine-selecting equipment. Scientific management, advanced processing technology and innovative manufacturing theory make the company become the mining machinery manufacturing and exporting base in China.

Hongxing Company lays much emphasis on the quality and clients. We serve clients with the quality guideline of being responsible for every working procedure, every product and every client. What we have done is for the clients and we believe that quality is the best way to develop market. All of the products have passed the authentication of ISO9001. Hongxing Brand is the Chinese Famous Brand. Reliable and stable quality is the key to success; our products are well known at home and abroad. Now we have tens of thousands of users throughout China and more than 30 world markets, such as: South Africa, Middle East, India, Philippine, Western Europe, Southeastern Asia.

The leading products of our company include: ball mill,raymond mill, sand-maker, jaw crusher, hammer crusher, vertical compound crusher, rotary kiln, drier, vibrating screen, sand washer, magnetic separator, SF flotation machine, roll crusher, belt conveyor, bucket elevator, spiral classifier, impact crusher, disk granulator, final screen, lift mixer, table Concentrator, centrifugal ore separator, high-efficiency Concentrator, disc feeder, pendulum type feeder and hydraulic cyclone. Moreover, we can provide program design, process flow design, standard and non-standard design for clients.

The persistent operating theory of Hongxing is: the development way depends on the concept and the good product comes out of the good faith. We have been awarded the “Civilized Enterprise” “Key Enterprise” “Enterprise with Standard Quality” and “Enterprise with Honesty and Credit Standing”. And Hongxing Brand is a "China Famous Brand" for reliable and stable quality. We firmly believe that we can get sincere repayment with our sincere dedication.

So at least there is one thing I found out with a little bit of research, it is not uncommon to operate a mine in Mexico, bravo. However, what about setting up a mine in Mexico? There is no wall chart adorning anyone’s wall that can help me there.

Corruption is an obstacle that may have to be overcome. In terms of making as sure as possible that your mine will get the go ahead, there are a number of ways to approach this. On the one hand, an ethical approach could be followed making it beneficial in terms of employment and improved services for the local population. Or the other way, choosing a smaller group of beneficiaries, local politicians etc. which may prove to be quicker. The very recent occurrences at major Canadian Engineering firm show that there is always potential for people in power (even successful people with much to lose) to forget their companies code of ethics in search of prestige and profit.

Canadian mining has the lion’s share of development in Mexico with 210 of the 279 mining corporation operating in the country. The same article also points to bribery in what would appear to be a profitable gold mining sector. It is also worth noting, that paying such a bribe in Mexico is a crime in Canada.

So again, is Mexico a good place to invest in mining? All I have established is that, there exists a developed mining industry, with a large Canadian presence, which seems to be turning a tidy profit irrespective of the current security situation. But is there something my little desk study has missed? Or is investing in a Mexican mining enterprise as valid as in Chile, Peru, or even Canada?