By Dolia Estevez
Forbes
Minera Frisco, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has been given the green light to search for gold in Mexico. In a controversial decision, Mexico’s Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) approved an environmental study last week authorizing Frisco’s Las Espejeras mine to conduct gold exploration activities. The October 3 authorization, which does not include gold extraction, will last two years and begin this month.
The mine suspended gold exploration last February when workers abandoned the site as a result of mounting protests by locals and environmentalists. The population of Tetela de Ocampo, where Las Espejeras is located in the mountains of Mexico’s east-central state of Puebla, strongly opposed the project, according to a poll conducted by Commission for Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, a newly created governmental body designed to settle disputes with local communities.