U.S.-Sanctioned Chinese Miners
Control 6% of Nicaragua.
They Seized an $80 Million
American-Owned Plant. Then Shipped the Gold to Miami.
On May 11, 2026, the Nicaraguan independent press outlet La Prensa published a territorial analysis layered on the U.S. Treasury’s April 16, 2026 OFAC designations. The finding: U.S.-sanctioned Chinese state-linked mining companies now control approximately 6% of Nicaragua’s national territory — roughly 7,150 square kilometers, larger than the combined area of Nicaragua’s departments of Managua and Estelí. The broader population of Chinese mining concessions, per Nicaragua’s Fundación del Río, controls 8.5% of the country— about 1.013 million hectares.
The political mechanic underneath the territorial map is straightforward. Daniel Ortega — the Sandinista revolutionary turned authoritarian co-president of Nicaragua — broke relations with Taiwan in December 2021, joined Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in January 2022, and over the next four years signed 52 mining contracts with four U.S.-sanctioned Chinese firms, plus a fifth that has been operating since 2019. In September 2025, the Ortega-Murillo Attorney General’s office seized BHMB Mining’s $80 million U.S.- and U.K.-owned processing plant and transferred it to a sanctioned Chinese miner.
The gold then flowed. Between January and August 2025, one sanctioned Chinese miner — Nicaragua Xinxin Linze Minería Group — shipped $25.6 million of Nicaraguan gold in eleven shipments to Miami. On April 16, 2026, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent designated seven gold-sector entities, five individuals, and two of Ortega’s own sons (Maurice Facundo and Daniel Edmundo) under Executive Order 13851. On May 11 — the same day La Prensa published the 6% figure — Nicaragua granted three new concessions totaling 40,349 hectares to Chinese and other foreign firms.
- 6%of Nicaragua under sanctioned Chinese miners~7,150 km² — larger than Managua + Estelí combined; La Prensa territorial analysis May 11, 2026.
- 8.5%total Chinese mining concessions1,013,225 hectares (~10,132 km²) per Fundación del Río March 2026 — broader population including non-sanctioned firms.
- $80MU.S./U.K. plant seized and handed to Zhong FuSeptember 2025 — Ortega's AG seized BHMB Mining and transferred it to a sanctioned Chinese firm; BHMB suing for $80M.
- $25.6Mof Nicaraguan gold to Miami via sanctioned firmXinxin Linze, 11 shipments January–August 2025 — sanctioned product entering the United States.
- $1.961BNicaragua 2025 gold export revenuePer the Attorney General of Nicaragua office, cited in Breitbart — gold is Nicaragua's #1 export, up from $1.35B in 2024.
Thomas Metal S.A.— 17 concessions, 228,272.98 hectares (largest holder by area).
Brother Metal S.A.— 14 concessions, 208,959.35 hectares.
Zhong Fu Development S.A.— 9 concessions, 150,633 hectares. Took over the expropriated BHMB Mining facility in 2025.
Nicaragua Xinxin Linze Minería Group S.A.— 12 concessions, 144,884.8 hectares. The firm that shipped $25.6 million in gold to Miami January–August 2025.
Grupo Minero Xiloá S.A. (Grumixsa)— sanctioned by OFAC as “part of a complex network of front companies and front men organized to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets, and reinforce political control for the benefit of the Ortega regime.”
Compañía Minera Internacional S.A. (Comintsa)— sanctioned 2024; transferred its lease to Zhong Fu in January 2026 in what Nicaraguan attorney Jason Poblete called “a laundering of concessions.”
“Grupo Minero Xiloá S.A. is part of a complex network of front companies and front men organized to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets, and reinforce political control for the benefit of the Ortega regime.”
U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) · April 16, 2026 designation
Daniel Ortega Saavedra (FSLN, Nicaragua co-president)— sanctioned earlier; presides over the regime that grants the concessions.
Rosario Murillo (FSLN, co-president, Ortega’s wife)— previously sanctioned; the political architect of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo— Ortega’s son; presidential delegate for sports. OFAC-sanctioned April 16, 2026.
Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo— Ortega’s son; head of Communication and Citizenship Council. OFAC-sanctioned April 16, 2026.
Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia— Vice Minister of Energy and Mines; OFAC-sanctioned April 16, 2026.
Luis Roberto Cañas Novoa— Vice Minister of Interior; State Department §7031(c) sanction April 18, 2026.
Bian Feiwu— Chinese national; president of Zhong Fu Development S.A.; OFAC-designated April 16, 2026.
Nicaragua is a two-hour flight from Miami. The territorial concession to U.S.-sanctioned Chinese state-linked mining firms is roughly two U.S. states’ worth of mineral resources, in a country whose regime quit Taiwan for Beijing in 2021, joined Belt and Road in 2022, seized $80 million in U.S.-owned property in 2025, and shipped the stolen gold back into the United States the same year. Whatever else can be said about the Trump administration’s China policy, the southern flank of the Western Hemisphere is now contested territory in a way it was not five years ago. The April 16 OFAC action is the visible response. The May 11 concessions Ortega granted on the same day La Prensa published the 6% figure are the answer.
“Revenue is generated by territorial concessions, which the regime can reallocate. As long as Washington does not treat the recycling of concessions as a punishable offense in and of itself, policy will continue to lag behind the regime.”
Jason Poblete · Sanctions attorney, former House Foreign Affairs Committee counsel
The story of the May 11 La Prensa analysis is not that Beijing is interested in Latin America. That has been documented for a decade. The story is that the People’s Republic of China, via U.S.-sanctioned shell companies operating with the active sponsorship of an authoritarian regime two hours’ flight from Miami, is converting Nicaraguan territorial concessions into hard currency, and the recycling of concessions from sanctioned shells to clean ones is faster than Washington’s ability to designate them. The trajectory is the lead, not the snapshot.
U.S.-sanctioned Chinese state-linked mining firms now control 6% of Nicaragua— roughly 7,150 km². They seized an $80 million American-owned plant in 2025 and shipped the stolen gold back to Miami. The same day La Prensa published the territorial map, Ortega granted three new concessions. The southern flank is conceded ground unless Washington starts treating the recycling of concessions as itself a sanctionable offense.