Introduction Indigenous people own most of the expansive strips of undeveloped land in Mexico. These lands are renowned for holding numerous unexploited minerals, and in this respect, most of the mining companies target these lands leading to conflicts between the companies and the indigenous people. According to Anaya (2000), the conflict drastically affects the sustainability of the land pieces. Mining may have positive impacts on the lives of the indigenous people. For instance, it may give the indigenous people a chance to realise their goals through revenue generated from the mining industry. On the other hand, mining may offer employment opportunities to the indigenous people and thus alleviate their living standards. Nevertheless, if not well managed, mining may have unpleasant effects on the livelihood of the indigenous people. It may pose numerous insolvency threats and threaten their sovereignty (Armienta et al. 2007). Indigenous people hardly hold their wealth in the form of income. Rather, their wealth is in the form of resources such as land that they associate with cultural values, environmental awareness, and institutions (Aronson 2009). The cultures of the indigenous people act as timelines that help members retrace their past, understand their present, and forecast what the future holds for them (Ballard & Banks 2003). The timelines are restrained and hard to transfer to a different locality meaning that displacement of the indigenous people makes it hard for them to follow their development course. This aspect underlines why indigenous people are capable of surviving in marginalised areas that non-indigenous people are incapable of thriving in without relying on external resources like technology, capital, and energy. Modern human activities like mining have adverse effects on the indigenous people. Indigenous people in Mexico stage demonstrations against mining companies as an indication that they hardly benefit from the companies. This paper will focus on the effects of silver mining on indigenous people in Mexico. Encroachment into the sacred sites Most of the mining contracts in Mexico are awarded without consultation with the indigenous people. Besides, the government does not give the mining companies the actual demarcation of the area to carryout their mining activities. The companies end up extending their operations to territories owned by the indigenous people thus destroying their sacred sites. Failure to consult the indigenous people leads to mining companies encroaching into areas held sacred by the indigenous communities (Herringshaw 2004). The companies carryout their mining activities along routes used by indigenous people during their pilgrimage journeys. Besides, they excavate lands where indigenous people buried their ancestors. This scenario poses spiritual and social threats to the communities as the mining companies disrupt the peace of their ancestors. In 2011, a Canadian company entered into conflict with the Waxarika community after it won a contract to mine silver in San Luis Potosi. The region where the company was to mine silver is along a route used by Waxarika people on their way to pilgrimage journeys (Melinda 2012). Be