Gunmen Steal US$8.5M in Gold from Canadian Company in Mexico

Gunmen stole 7,000 ounces of gold worth over US$8.4 million in Sinaloa, Mexico.

Reuters

Published 8 April 2015

McEwan Mining said nobody was seriously injured during the robbery in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa.

An armed group of men stormed a Canadian gold mining company in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa and stole about 900 kilograms of concentrated gold, containing 7,000 ounces of pure gold worth about US$8.5 million, the company reported.

McEwan Mining confirmed the robbery and said that their insurance policy was insufficient to cover for the stolen gold from their mining operation in Sinaloa, a state considered to be the cradle of the most powerful and dangerous drug traffickers in Mexico and around the world.

“No employee was seriously injured in the assault,” the company said in a statement.

However, it did not say how many people were injured during the robbery.

According to the Canadian company, the amount of gold stolen is equal to one-sixth of its annual production, which totals 38,000 ounces of gold at their mining complex El Gallo 1, located in the norther region of Sinaloa.

“Our insurance policy will not be enough to cover the all the losses,” the company added.

“The authorities are vigorously investigating the crime and soon should have results.”

The Canadian company, which operates in Mexico, United States and Argentina, also said that it would not interrupt its operations at the mine.

Although there is no official report regarding the robbery, the crime could be blamed on organized crime gangs, which are linked to robberies at other mines in the country, as well as “milking” gasoline from pipelines property of the country's state-owned oil company Pemex.

Official estimates, have revealed the organized groups have stolen billions of dollars of gasoline from Pemex.

Two years ago, Mexican newspaper Excelsior published an extensive article explaining how drug trafficking gangs were also involved in robbing silver and gold from mining companies.

“The activities of the drug cartels in Mexico now involve stealing gold and silver, which they use as currency when dealing with transnational organizations.

They also use the gold and silver for their personal jewelry and arms,” the Mexican Attorney General's office told the daily.

The Miners Association of Sonora in northwestern Mexico recently complained that their production costs had increased by 15 percent due to security reasons.

On June 26, 2009, three civilians and a retired army general who were transporting 12 tons of concentrated gold disappeared along with the precious metal in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Concentrated gold is a type of paste obtained after various processes and it is composed of gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc and other metal substances.

In 2010, the attorney general’s office revealed that the drug cartel La Familia Michoacan had taken control of an entire mining region and began extracting various types of metals, including gold, which they allegedly exported to China.

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