PBI-Canada Board member at information meeting on Canadian mine in Mexico
The Peace Brigades International – Mexico Project accompanied the Civil Observation Mission (la Misión Civil de Observación) to an information meeting today about the Ixtaca mining project in the south-central Mexican state of Puebla.
Peace Brigades International-Canada Board member Paul Bocking travelled with PBI-Mexico for this accompaniment.
Vancouver-based Almaden Minerals Ltd. (through its Mexican subsidiary Minera Gorrion) owns the Ixtaca project.
The Mexico News Daily has reported, “The company bought the 14,000-hectare claim … in 2001, and discovered what it calls the Ixtaca gold and silver deposit in 2010.”
On June 5, 2019, the non-governmental organization PODER (the Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research) stated in a media release, “In April 2019, at the request of an indigenous community, a Mexican court canceled Almaden Minerals Ltd.’s mining concessions in Ixtacamaxtitlán, Puebla.”
The indigenous community refers to the Nahua or Tecoltemic in the village of Tecoltemi near the town of Ixtacamaxtitlan, which is situated about 140 kilometres east of Mexico City.
PODER adds, “Almaden has denied the indigenous presence in the area and conducted exploration without receiving free, prior, and informed consent.”
The Yucatan Times has previously reported, “A 2016 report by PODER, a local non-profit, found that exploration activity in Ixtacamaxtitlan had contaminated water sources, threatening the community’s supply.”
The Mexico News Daily adds, “According to a human rights impact assessment conducted by the NGOs, Almaden is violating the rights to health, informed consultation and access to water of the people of Ixtacamaxtitlán.”
That article also notes, “The NGOs say the firm has claimed in reports to shareholders that it has drilled to a depth of 700 meters, surpassing the permitted limit of 150 meters and reaching the underground water supply of 15 towns. They say the unauthorized drilling has left several farming properties in the Apulco River watershed without water, and caused pollution.”
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