VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian gold producer Torex Gold Resources has issued a press release criticising a labour union and the media for spreading misinformation regarding an incident over the weekend where two people were killed near its El Limon Guajes (ELG) mine, in Mexico.
The Toronto-based company said that an illegal blockade by the challenging union has forced it to temporarily shutter the ELG mine, as two rival unions vie to represent the mine’s workers. The two persons killed were not in the company’s employ and it stressed that there was no deliberate strike action taking place at the mine.
Torex stated that a majority of the company's non-staff employees have signed with the CTM Union, which currently legally represents the employees.
The miner affirmed its support for a government-approved voting process to determine which union will represent employees.
While the company can only speculate as to why the opposing union has formed a blockade of the mine’s access road, it estimated that about 15% of its unionised employees also joined in the blockade.
“The remaining unionised workers continue to be paid at a reduced rate, but have been sent home for safety reasons,” the company advised.
According to Torex, the dispute is now being handled by the local Labour Board, which is working with the parties to defuse the dispute and determine a date for the union vote to take place.
In the meantime, security forces have been deployed to protect the ELG assets.