Protesters block access to Goldcorp’s Peñasquito mine

Landowners, truck drivers, and residents of the Mexican community of Mazapil who have been protesting since Monday, have decided in recent hours to block the access to Goldcorp’s Peñasquito mine.

As reported by El Universal (in Spanish), they are demanding jobs, compensation for environmental damages, and clean water for their communities.

According to Reuters, the Canadian giant says the protest is illegal and is putting the mine’s production at risk. Peñasquito is Mexico’s largest gold mine and it’s located in the northern Zacatecas state. Last year it produced 860,000 ounces of gold, which represents a quarter of Goldcorp’s total output.

But the project has been dealing with controversy in 2016. Last month, a journalistic investigation found out about a selenium leak that had not been disclosed to the public for at least a couple of years. Mexican authorities were forced to launch a probe into whether the company broke any environmental regulations concerning contamination of groundwater.

Later on, regulators and Goldcorp’s spokespeople said there was no evidence that the leak had caused serious damage to people’s health or the environment.

At the moment, Peñasquito’s mill was shut down for 10 days. As a result, the Vancouver-based company posted a loss for its second quarter, after producing 613,400 ounces from 908,000 produced in the same period last year.

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