Grupo Mexico Struggles with Recovery from Mexico's Worst Industrial Mine Spill teleSUR
go to original September 3, 2014

Economic activity has come to a complete standstill as authorities and Grupo Mexico struggle with a cleanup that could span over decades.

Nearly a month after what authorities call Mexico’s worst industrial mining spill, the governor of the affected state of Sonora is promising temporary work to the more than 22,000 people affected.

On August 6, a cocktail of more than 40 million cubic liters of sulpheric acid and heavy metals leaked out of a contention dam at the Buenavista Copper mine in the town of Cananea. The spill contaminated the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers, which run more than 270 kilometers.

“With the program we have developed, ‘Lets Save the River,’ we can all organize to save the Sonora River, we can form brigades that will also receive payments for those who are unemployed right now,” said Sonora governor Guillermo Padrés Elías in a town hall meeting in Baviacora, one of the seven municipalities affected by the spill.

However, many citizens say that the promise isn’t enough. They want the mine owner, Grupo Mexico, to be held fully responsible.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Photo: Clayton Conn

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