The Anglo Mexican Mining Association and the Guanajato Mint in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

After Independence from Spain Mexico received an influx of British investments, directed partly to government bonds but also to direct investment, particularly into mining and trade of mining supplies. These investments soon expanded to other areas connected to mining such as coin production, thanks to measures taken during the independence war which decentralised coinage and which allowed for the establishment of minting houses in the provinces leasing them to private entrepreneurs. As early as 1824 the Mint House of Guanajuato was leased to the Anglo Mexican Mining Association which managed to keep its control until the late nineteenth century. This paper describes and analyses the conditions behind the establishment of one of the most dynamic mint houses in the country as it benefited from its capacity to collect the gold and silver of one of the most productive mining regions of Mexico. But also due to its capacity to promote modernization of the mint through the introduction of new methods and machinery, new methods of administration and by establishing strategic networks with one of the most important suppliers of machinery and mining tools in Great Britain.