Since last October 12, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PROFEPA) has requested Cuzcatlán Mining Company, SA de CV, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Fortuna Silver Inc., located in the municipality of San José del Progreso, to carry out “measures of urgent application due to the spill of a tailings dam”. This contingency occurred on October 8, after heavy rains. The measures to be taken seek “to guarantee the protection and safeguarding of the environment and to avoid further damage to the natural elements”.
Given the indolence of the company that works in the area since 2011 to comply with these measures, on October 17, PROFEPA notified the company date and time for taking soil samples, an action that was carried out by a company contracted by Minera Cuzcatlán, accredited and approved by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). PROFEPA personnel were present during the procedure. The results to determine the existence or not of contamination with hazardous waste is yet to be received. In case it is accredited, the actions and sanctions that according to law proceed will be applied, the PROFEPA warned in a press release.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the community of Magdalena Octotlán still can not use the water for cultivation or to bathe, and they fear the contamination of their drinking water wells, a few meters from the affected stream.
For more information (in Spanish):
El río está blanco y el agua para sembrar ya no sirve. Indígenas de Oaxaca acusan a mina canadiense (Sin Embargo, 23 de octubre de 2018)
Minera de San José del Progreso obligada a atender derrame en presa (El Imparcial de Oaxaca, 23 de octubre de 2018)
PROFEPA ORDENA A MINERA CUZCATLÁN, S.A. DE C.V., MEDIDAS DE URGENTE APLICACIÓN POR DERRAME DE JALES (PROFEPA, 22 de octubre de 2018)
Solicita Defensoría a Profepa investigar posible contaminación del río Coyote en valle de Ocotlán (Pagina 3.mx, 18 de octubre de 2018)
Piden cancelar el proyecto de la minera Cuzcatlán por contaminación (Contralínea, 18 de octubre de 2018)
Derrame minero en Oaxaca alarma a poblaciones rurales (Rebelión, 17 de octubre de 2018)
La Profepa confirma derrame causado por empresa de filial canadiense en río El Coyote, Oaxaca (Proceso, 15 de octubre de 2018)
For more information from SIPAZ:
Oaxaca: Popular Community Trial against the State and the Mining Companies is carried out
October 16, 2018
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