Dolores mine

The mine was originally developed by Minefinders in 2008.^[4] Minefinders was a private Canadian silver and gold exploration company founded February 4, 1975, and were formerly known as Twentieth Century Explorations.^[5][6] They engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal properties and held controlling interest in said properties. The primary industry they operated in was multi-line mining, as well as precious metals and minerals mining.^[6]

Dolores mine is located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental Range.^[4] Though the Minefinders Corporation started production in 2008, the mine was by no means newly discovered at that point, with the discovery of the Dolores site specifically dating back to 1860, and mining in the region dating back to earlier in the 1800s.^[7][4] Mechanized production of silver and gold has been documented from between 1915 and 1931 though stopped in 1931. In 1993, Minefinders started buying property in the region, and interest in mining in the range returned. The corporation acquired 27,700 ha of property and began a drilling program, leading to more than 200,000 m of combined core and reverse circulation drilling over the years with 850 drilled into the landscape.^[4]

The open-pit mine started production in November 2008 through Minefinders, and the mine began commercial production in May 2009. It was expected to produce 80,000 ounces of gold and 4 million ounces of silver per year during its estimated lifetime of over 17 years.^[8] Still under the oversight of Minefinders, the mine produced 1.22 million ounces of silver and 56,000 ounces of gold in 2010, with production increasing to 3.57 million ounces of silver and 74,400 ounces of gold in 2011.^[8]

In January 2012, PAS announced that they had agreed to acquire Minefinders for $1.5 Billion.^[5] Prior to this acquisition, PAS had already operated seven silver mines in Latin America and sought to specifically gain access to the Dolores mine through Minefinders. In the year before this acquisition the site had increased its silver production by almost 200 percent. The combined production for both companies in 2011 totaled about 26 million ounces of silver, and production was projected to rise to more than 50 million ounces by 2015.^[5]

PAS is a public Canadian mining company founded in 1994.^[6] They are primarily engaged in the operation, development, and exploration of silver and gold producing properties and assets. Their primary products are silver and gold, though they also produce and sell zinc, lead, and copper. PAS has operating mines in La Colorado, Dolores, Huaron, Morococha, Shahuindo, La Arena, Timmins West, Bell Creek, Manantial Espejo, and San Vicente mines.^[6]

With the acquisition of Minefinders and the Dolores Mine, PAS’s chief executive, Geoff Burns, said in 2012 that they “believe this acquisition is logical and consistent with PAS’s vision to become the largest, low-cost primary producer of silver in the world”.^[5] Prior to acquiring Minefinders, PAS had made a name buying ‘distressed’ mines and reviving them, compared to the decision to takeover a company and mine that were already doing well.^[9]

The land that Dolores mine operates on originally belonged to the rural community Huizopa Ejido, a community of farmers in the municipality of Madera in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.^[10] To obtain the mining concession titles for Dolores, Minefinders used their connection to Jose Liebano Saenz Ortiz, a member of the PRI political party and former private secretary to President Ernesto Zedillo. Saenz Ortiz held the original titles to the mining concessions for Dolores and then granted and sold them to Minefinders. In 2006, the Huizopa Ejido signed a contract with Minefinders, giving the company access to the community’s land for 16 years. The Ejido received 39 million pesos ($3.7 million). However, Minefinders had only obtained permission from Mexico’s Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources to operate on an area of 500 hectares, and illegally occupied 3,458 hectares for mineral extraction and exploration. The land-use contract between the company and the Huizopa Ejido only gave them permission to operate on a third of the land they operated on as well.^[10]

In 2008, the Ejido declared that the contract was fraudulent and that they had been deceived by the mining company.^[10] They demanded that the company take greater measures to mitigate environmental damage from the mine and equitably share the expected $3 billion in profits from the mine. Members of the community accused Saenz Ortiz of “robbing them of their rights, given that they had previously sought a relationship with him in order to seek the permits and capital necessary to explore and exploit minerals in the area themselves.”^[10]

The state of Chihuahua has been militarized by the Mexican drug war.^[11] When PAS bought the mine in 2012, there was an ongoing territorial dispute between organized crime groups.^[12] In Mexico, natural resource extractive industries may cooperate with organized crime groups who will drive away people living in areas to be mined and help the companies to silence community members who object to extractive projects.^[13][14] This violence also makes it difficult for human rights observers or journalists to travel to the area.^[13][14]

In 2020, research carried out by EJAtlas, MiningWatch Canada, Earthworks and the Institute for Policy Studies found that PAS was involved in several environmental conflicts in Latin America and that these conflicts "demonstrate a lack of respect for communities defending their territories from mining."^[12]