Sonora police intervene to remove blockaders from Fresnillo’s La Herradura mine
Minera Penmont, a subsidiary of Fresnillo (LON: FRS), announced that the Sonora police removed a number of blockades installed at different entry points of the company’s La Herradura operation located in northwestern Mexico.
According to local media, the Criminal Investigation Ministerial Agency had to intervene in order to remove the blockaders, who had been protesting for 14 days and hindering other workers’ ability to get to their posts.
The conflict started on April 27, 2023, when some employees protested against the company’s refusal to pay 10% of the profits that – they say – is owed to 1,800 workers. They were also defending their right to freedom of association.
In a communiqué, Minera Penmont said that some people that don’t even work for the company were part of the group that launched the “illegal strike action” and that all of them refused to go through the regular institutional channels to negotiate a solution to the conflict.
“The company initiated legal actions against those responsible for this work stoppage that has put the mining operation, social stability and the local economy at risk,” the media statement reads.
Fresnillo’s subsidiary noted that management has, at all times, responded to workers’ demands within the existing legal framework, in compliance with the contract it signed with the FRENTE Mining and Metallurgical National Union and without interfering with the decisions made by the union during its general meetings, which have been endorsed by the Mexican labour authorities.
La Herradura is an open-pit gold mine that has been operating in Sonora since 1997. In the first quarter of 2023, it produced 106,832 ounces of gold and 208,000 ounces of silver. It employs almost 3,000 people, directly and indirectly, and injects over $500 million into the local economy every year.