Grupo México affirms that it remedied the Sonora River and denies SEMARNAT

The mining consortium Grupo México denied the Environmental Diagnostic Report of the Sonora River presented by SEMARNAT, INECC and IMTA, government agencies that established that nine years after the greatest ecological disaster generated by the toxic spill from the Cananea mine, the risk persists. to the health and safety of more than 60 thousand inhabitants of eight towns, due to water contamination that has generated economic damages of more than 20 billion pesos to the affected families.

“The remediation of the Sonora River was successful, fully adhered to the law and supported by scientific studies and authorities,” Grupo México headlined a press release in response to the opinion made public last week by María Luisa Albores González, Secretary of the Environment. Environment in Mexico.

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“The supposed findings of the sampling presented last week lack any causal link with the event that occurred in 2014; They fail to point out other current sources of pollution such as illegal mining, the discharge of untreated sewage and the prolonged accumulation of residues from agricultural fertilizers and insecticides,” said the mining company.

Grupo México affirms that the environmental conditions and integrity of the ecosystems of the Sonora and Bacanuchi Rivers are the same as those that existed before the 2014 accident; It also points out that there is a study that the Ministry of Health published in 2019, which establishes that there is morbidity and mortality of the population due to the toxic spill.

“In fact, SEMARNAT itself has made an official statement through a resolution notified to the company in May 2023, recognizing that CONAGUA has determined that, as of today, the quality of the water that existed before the incident in the Sonora River,” added the mining consortium.

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Last week in a presentation broadcast through social networks, secretary María Luisa Albores of SEMARNAT; Mariana Morales Hernández, director of the INECC; and Adrián Pedrozo Acuña, director of the IMTA, presented the results of the Environmental Diagnostic Report of the Sonora River.

The 239-page document establishes that the inhabitants of eight municipalities that live in the vicinity of the Sonora River face risks to health, safety and economy, due to the presence of bioaccumulative heavy metals, in quantities well above the limits established. national and international standards.

It also says that the damage to the region's economy due to the Buenavista del Cobre spill totals 20,508 million pesos from 2014 to date, so Germán Larrea, owner of Grupo México, has only covered 6.12% of the costs. expenses generated, because it paid less than 1,500 million pesos.

In a virtual press conference, the head of Semarnat assured that the data contained in the environmental diagnosis are technical and not ideological.

While Grupo México affirms that the Sonora River legion has suffered the effects of continuous disinformation campaigns by people and organizations for political and destabilization purposes, causing fear and unfounded distrust among the population and seriously affecting the economy of that area. .