Canadian Mining Giant Goldcorp Dries Up Scarce Water Resources in Mexico Television del Sur
go to original June 7, 2016

To talk about the impact of mining on Mexico’s future, Laura Carlsen speaks with Miguel Mijangos, a member of the Network of Those Affected by Mining. (teleSUR English)

A Canadian mining giant sucks up more water than any other in the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas, where mining corporations use more water than the entire local population and concerns are rising about highly unequal access to the scarce and precious resource, according to a study reported by the Mexican daily La Jornada.

According to the report completed by researchers from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, the Mexican water authority, known as Conagua, has given the greenlight to national and transnational mining companies operating in Zacatecas to use over 14 million gallons (nearly 56,000 cubic meters) of water per year.

Canadian companies control a majority of Latin American mining. Activists say those companies are polluting and violating indigenous rights. (Al Jazeera English)

Meanwhile, over half of the aquifers being exploited, or seven of the 12, already suffer a water deficit that isn’t being replenished and is affecting supply in local communities. Overall, 14 of the 34 aquifers statewide show signs of depletion and overexploitation, according to the report.

By far and away the biggest water offender in the region is the Canadian mining giant Goldcorp, through its local subsidiary Peñasquito, at a total of nearly 12 million gallons of groundwater use every year. Goldcorp has repeatedly been accused of being behind massive environmental damage and human rights abuses in the Americas, while Canadian mining corporations in general have a notorious record in Latin America and Africa.

Trailing far behind at 1.5 million gallons of water, the mining company Minera Frisco, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, is the second largest water user in Zacatecas.

But one of the lead researchers has warned that the bad situation is only expected to get worse, La Jornada reported.

While signs of water shortages have already started to be seen, scarcity is expected to increase in the coming years with nearly 100 mining projects in the “exploitation” phase across more than two dozen municipalities in the state.

Read the rest at Television del Sur

Related: More Than 180 Groups Urge Trudeau to Curb Canadian Mining's Alleged Abuses in Latin America (Indian Country Today)

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