Post by account_disabled on Mar 4, 2024 22:52:23 GMT -5
Almost 7 years have passed since the Buenavista del Cobre (BVC) mine, belonging to Grupo México, spilled 40 million liters of heavy metals into the Sonora and Bacanuchi rivers, in the state of Sonora, an event that became the worst mining environmental disaster in the history of Mexico and for which no effective remedy has been given due to the socio-environmental impact it caused in the area. During the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, this Wednesday, the head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), María Luisa Albores González, explained that this disaster affected 288.8 kilometers and caused economic, environmental and social damage to 22 thousand inhabitants. He reported that so far in the administration no new concessions for mining have been granted and demanded that mining companies respect the environment, consult the communities and respect their will, in addition to contributing fair taxes for taking advantage of assets that They belong to the nation and the people of Mexico.
According to the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp), of 142 Protected Natural Areas on the land surface of Mexico, 68 have mining concessions, covering 1.5 million hectares, equivalent to 7.7% of the protected surface. “In total, 1,609 mining concessions that overlap in territories of protected natural areas in different categories; 75% with a category of natural resource Ecuador Mobile Number List protection areas, 63% of biosphere reserve, 45% of flora and fauna protection areas, 22% in sanctuaries and 15% in national parks,” he asserted. Regarding mining projects, he reported that there are 503 in exploration, 96 in production, 49 in development, 523 in review and six that have closed; In total, 11% of the country's territory has concessions of 50 to 100 years. It is worth mentioning that, according to information from the agency, on May 22 and 23 the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) will hold, together with Grupo México and affected communities, information tables on the spill of acidulated copper sulfate in the Sonora River in 2014. The purpose of this meeting will be for the affected communities to have the opportunity to question the authorities and representatives of Grupo México as to why the Río Sonora trust was ordered to be terminated, which had resources of 2 billion pesos to support the community and which was not respected.
He explained that in September 2014 an agreement was signed between Profepa and responsible companies to remedy, repair, and compensate for environmental, material, and public health damage, for which they created a trust fund with two billion pesos and which concluded that the objectives of the remediation programs had been completed, so they returned around 800 million pesos from the trust created to Grupo México. For this reason, he assured that Semarnat's actions to compensate for the damage that the territory and communities have had will be: Quarterly monitoring visits to mining activities, as well as to review water quality. Reformulate the trust's technical committee to resume pending remediation, health care and economic reactivation work. Verify and resume the exercise of resources returned to the company when determining the conclusion of the remediation work. Continue investigations arising from complaints against several public servants for acts and omissions. Gold and silver During the report, María Luisa Albores highlighted that, regarding the extraction of gold and silver, from 2006 to 2018, more than 1,059 tons of gold and 48,626 tons of silver have been recovered and 75% of the concessions were granted.
According to the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp), of 142 Protected Natural Areas on the land surface of Mexico, 68 have mining concessions, covering 1.5 million hectares, equivalent to 7.7% of the protected surface. “In total, 1,609 mining concessions that overlap in territories of protected natural areas in different categories; 75% with a category of natural resource Ecuador Mobile Number List protection areas, 63% of biosphere reserve, 45% of flora and fauna protection areas, 22% in sanctuaries and 15% in national parks,” he asserted. Regarding mining projects, he reported that there are 503 in exploration, 96 in production, 49 in development, 523 in review and six that have closed; In total, 11% of the country's territory has concessions of 50 to 100 years. It is worth mentioning that, according to information from the agency, on May 22 and 23 the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) will hold, together with Grupo México and affected communities, information tables on the spill of acidulated copper sulfate in the Sonora River in 2014. The purpose of this meeting will be for the affected communities to have the opportunity to question the authorities and representatives of Grupo México as to why the Río Sonora trust was ordered to be terminated, which had resources of 2 billion pesos to support the community and which was not respected.
He explained that in September 2014 an agreement was signed between Profepa and responsible companies to remedy, repair, and compensate for environmental, material, and public health damage, for which they created a trust fund with two billion pesos and which concluded that the objectives of the remediation programs had been completed, so they returned around 800 million pesos from the trust created to Grupo México. For this reason, he assured that Semarnat's actions to compensate for the damage that the territory and communities have had will be: Quarterly monitoring visits to mining activities, as well as to review water quality. Reformulate the trust's technical committee to resume pending remediation, health care and economic reactivation work. Verify and resume the exercise of resources returned to the company when determining the conclusion of the remediation work. Continue investigations arising from complaints against several public servants for acts and omissions. Gold and silver During the report, María Luisa Albores highlighted that, regarding the extraction of gold and silver, from 2006 to 2018, more than 1,059 tons of gold and 48,626 tons of silver have been recovered and 75% of the concessions were granted.