• ROBBERIES: Organized crime groups are targeting gold mining operations in the northern state of Sonora taking advantage of the emergency declaration stemming from the coronavirus outbreak with at least two robberies of doré bars (gold/silver alloy) reported in the last two weeks.
• BOLD: This week, armed men stormed the Mulato’s Mine, a subsidiary of Canada’s Alamos Gold, stealing an unknown quantity of doré bars while escaping in a Cessna aircraft; two weeks ago, criminals stole doré bars from two trucks leaving the Herradura Mine, a subsidiary of Fresnillo PLC.
• TARGET: “In this worldwide health emergency, the industry’s operations are in a transition stage to comply with federal and state governments directives. This makes it a vulnerable target for organized crime”, said the Sonora state mining association (AMSAC), urging for more security actions.
• EMERGENCY: On March 2, Sonora state Governor Claudia Pavlovich declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak suspending non-essential economic activities. On March 30, the federal Government declared a national health emergency that limited mining operations.
