MEXICO CITY — Mexico is pursuing a criminal complaint against the country’s biggest copper producer seeking to force a new remediation effort for a toxic mine spill in the northern state of Sonora nine years ago, an environmental official said Thursday.
Mining company Grupo Mexico closed its remediation fund in 2017, arguing that it had met legal requirements.Mexico celebrates an ex-military official once arrested on drug smuggling charges in the US“The people, the environment are still contaminated and there are sick people,” said María Luisa Albores González, who heads the government’s Environment Department.
The accident, about 62 miles from the city of Nogales, has left “alarming” levels of air, water and soil pollution across 94 square miles to this day, The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment on Albores’ announcement, but in a statement it issued last week in response to the government study it said its remediation efforts were successful and legally complete.