Non-Mining Front meets with Mexican Secretary of the Environment about permit for the San José mine

On April 21, the Oaxacan Collective in Defence of the Territories posted an update about the Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver Inc. San José mine in Mexico.

Their article highlights that the Non-Mining Front for a Future of All met with the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Maria Luisa Albores Gonzalez, on April 15 to demand the denial of the Environment Impact Assessment for the controversial Canadian-owned San José mine.

This dialogue was first demanded in December 2020 when the Non-Mining Front blocked federal highway 175 to get a response from the environmental protection authority.

At this meeting, participating communities told the Secretary of their declarations of Forbidden Territory for Mining, which prohibit any exploration, exploration or mining activity in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.

They also highlighted their “very strong concern in our territories due to the decrease of water and the pollution of it in the Coyote and Santa Rosa Rivers.”

And they affirmed: “Mining does not represent any development option in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, so we demand to stop the expansion that [Fortuna Silver subsidiary] Cuzcatlán wants to do through MIA San José II.”

This follows the news from earlier this month.

On April 2, Sin Embargo reported: “SEMARNAT reported this week that the dialogue between federal authorities and the Front began since 14 December 2020 on the orders of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Last Saturday [March 27] they committed to water quality studies to detect potential damage from the waste spill on the El Coyote River in 2018, ‘which was not served by past administration authorities.’”

Concerns about this water contamination and a new operating permit for Fortuna Silver were highlighted by Educa Oaxaca and community members on a webinar this past March 11 organized by Peace Brigades International and Amnesty International Canada.

We continue to follow this situation closely.

To read the full article in Spanish, click here.