Yeah, let's put one of these at the headwaters of the greatest salmon habitat left on planet earth. It sure has been a rough few weeks for the open pit mining industry.
A toxic leak from Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista copper mine, that's the big hole pictured above, has contaminated the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers in Northern Mexico.
The Buenavista mine, one of the largest copper mines in the world, is located in Cananea, Sonora, about 25 miles south of the U.S. border near Nogales, Arizona. The mine is operated by Grupo Mexico, one of the world’s largest copper producers. Grupo Mexico’s American subsidiary, Asarco, is nearing a deal to gain full ownership of the Silver Bell copper mine across the U.S. border in Marana, Arizona and has been subject to major environmental misconduct charges in the past relating to its mining operations.
Mine officials have been criticized for not reporting the massive acid spill to authorities for around 24 hours, with residents downstream detecting the spill the next day as it turned dozens of miles of river orange.
LINK (via: Think Progress)
A second mine in northern Mexico recently spilled over a half-million gallons of a cyanide solution used in heap-leach gold mining, after heavy rains caused a retaining pond to overflow.
LINK (via: Business Standard)