In the latest development in a long-running legal battle, a Mexican court has ordered the country’s natural resources ministry to revoke a land-use permit granted to a Canadian mining company operating in Mexico.
Vancouver-based New Gold Inc. has been embroiled in controversy triggered by its operation of an open-pit gold and silver mine in Cerro de San Pedro (Saint Peter’s Mount) in the state of San Luis Potosí.
The ruling by the Administrative Justice Tribunal of Mexico ends a decade-long legal campaign by Mexican-based Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), a broad coalition of environmental and community groups.
The court ruled that the company’s all-important land-use permit is null and void and that there is no possibility of appeal. As far as FAO is concerned, this settles a long line of appeals and legal revisions over the years and means the mine should cease operating.
