The increase in environmental conflicts in Colombia have evidenced the diverse interests that exist; This phenomenon occurs while citizens demand to participate in decision-making through movements that seek to make popular initiatives mandatory for the government. The objective of citizens is to oppose extractive projects in their territories. The Constitutional Court of Colombia decided that popular initiatives have restrictions, and that it cannot rule on these matters; this is the exclusive competence of the Government. This paper aims to provide tools for the debate on citizen participation and the scope of popular consultations in the mining sector. The methodology used is documentary analysis. As results, the paper presents the legal consecration of participation in the Colombian legal system. In addition, the paper makes an approximation to the mechanism of political participation of popular initiatives on mining matters and its scope, in accordance with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. As conclusions, the authors present some reflections on the incidence of citizenship in the popular iniatiatives as a mechanism of environmental participation.