Officials at Grupo Mexico SAB have announced that heavy rains from Hurricane Odile have led to new flooding at their troubled Buenavista del Cobre copper mine in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, further excerbating an environmental disaster.
Last week’s rains caused two mine reservoirs to fill with water, prompting the company to activate pumping teams to initiate containment, according to a Grupo Mexico statement. A spill at the same mine early last month contaminated water supplies for some 24,000 people, government authorities reported; the company has since spent $150 million on cleanup. Chemicals released following the latest flooding at Buenavista and have further contaminated the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers.
