Minera San Xavier is a subsidiary of the Canadian company

New Gold Inc. New Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the New Afton gold-silver-copper mine in British Columbia and the Rainy River gold-silver mine in Ontario, Canada. Through a Mexican subsidiary company, they also own the Cerro San ...

that operates a gold and silver mine near

Cerro de San Pedro Cerro de San Pedro is a village and seat of the Municipality of Cerro de San Pedro, located in the state of San Luis Potosí in central Mexico. It is located in hills, northeast of the city of San Luis Potosí. , the population was 95. The towns ...

, a municipality of

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

just 12 kilometers away from the capital city of the state. The city of San Luis Potosí was founded after gold was discovered in the hills near Cerro de San Pedro in the 15th century. The company has defied legal resolutions against its operation by arranging economically with the Mexican ecological authority, the

Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (in Spanish: ''Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, SEMARNAT'') is Mexico's environment ministry. Its head, the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, is a member ...

(Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Semarnat), pushing them to disregard ecological research done by some independent institutions and to instead accept most other independent as well as company-funded and government required studies. Continuous internal and external monitoring of mining activities has not produced any evidence of contamination to date. On 5 February 2007, Pro San Luis Ecológico, A.C., filed a submission before the

Commission for Environmental Cooperation The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC; es, Comisión para la Cooperación Ambiental; french: Commission de coopération environnementale) was established by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to implement the North American Agree ...

under Article 14(1) of the

North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) is an environmental agreement between the United States of America, Canada and Mexico as a side-treaty of the North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Tra ...

. The submitter asserted that Mexico was failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to the authorization of the Cerro de San Pedro project in San San Luis Potos. In submissio
SEM-07-001 (Minera San Xavier)
the submitter asserted that in April 2006 Semarnat violated a Mexican court ruling by authorizing Minera San Xavier project for a second time. On 15 July 2009, the CEC Secretariat decided not to recommend the development of a factual investigation.CEC Secretariat, Determination under NAAEC Article 15(1)
SEM-07-001 (Minera San Xavier), 15 July 2009

References

External links

Halifax Initiative's Letter to Ministers Mackay and Emerson on Metallica ResourcesOfficial website

* ttp://www.angelfire.com/rebellion2/antimsx/ website for the FAO, Frente amplo opositor; Broad Opposition Front against Minera San Xavier
New Gold/Minera San Xavier Fact Sheet
Environmental disasters in Mexico Gold mining companies of Mexico Environment of Mexico Silver mining companies of Mexico {{Environmental-disaster-stub

See also

References

External links