Oaxaca: Tailings dam threaten the Central Valleys with heavy contamination

Oaxaca. On June 30th authorities belonging to the Ocotlán and Ejutla districts reunited in the community of San Martin de los Cansecos and discussed about the constant pressure and aggresion caused by the mining company Fortuna Silver Mines. On the very same day they toured around the communal areas of San Martin de los Cansecos with other members from San Jose del Progreso observing what has been the caused of the rubble and debri and on what other exploration has been made by the Fortuna Silver Mines company in the communal limits. They varified that the mining company has invaded the communal areas in San Martin de los Cansecos opening gaps and excavating without the authorization of the community. The mining companies are violating the agreements made by the assembly where the community has prohibited exploration and mining exploitation of any kind and this goes against what the Agrarian National Registry wanted. 

Guard booths were even installed by the company placing them around the agricultural boundaries. The company hired people from San José del Progreso as a form of intimidation. It is important to mention that these facts have been reported to other authorities. At the moment the communites that are affected have not received a satisfactory answer to this problem. They continue demanding authorities to ban these studies that form part of the expansion of the mining project. The communities have been able to verify that in the last few weeks large ammount of polluting black smoke that has been coming out from the instalations of the Fortuna Silver Mines company that is operating in the San José del Progreso community. The communal land holders notified the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, about these events but responded that they had no idea about these problems and that they would investigate on the matter. The last few days of heavy rain has caused the tailings dam to reach its maximum capacity which makes it a big threat for the surrounding communities, the water, and for the crop fields of the region. The communities are afraid that the dam will overflow due to the upcoming rain and that the authorities are not taking action to mitigate the risk.