Local farmers have joined forces with striking miners in stopping work at the Buenavista de Cobre open-pit copper mine near Canenea, Sonora, MX. The mine is owned by Grupo Mexico and is reportedly the second largest in the world.
Heavy rains last August resulted in the collapse of a tailings dam that unleashed a toxic runoff of contaminated mine waste including sulfuric acid and heavy metals into the headwaters of the Rio Sonora. The watershed provides drinking and irrigation water to the residents in northern Sonora.
According to Al Jazeera, striking miners, and Rio Sonora farmers shut down the groundwater wells used by the mine resulting in a sharp reduction in mining operations.
In August of last year, a leading mining industry publication said that collapse of tailing dams at Buenavista and Mt. Polley in British Columbia, CA “[serve] as a reminder of why lengthy permitting and environmental approval processes are necessary for mine construction…” similar to the process currently underway at the proposed Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest south of Tucson.
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