Residents of the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, Puebla — who have been severely affected by the activities of the Almaden Minerals— claimed the mining company has provided false information to the local community, investors and the government in order to continue the extraction of gold and silver.
According to several civilian organizations, the mining company has refused to share information with the local communities about its intention to exploit a common resource or the environmental and health risks that the project poses to the neighboring communities. Almaden Minerals has reportedly carried out disinformation campaigns to lead the population to believe that the cyanide used in its processes does not pollute water, and also engaged in local lobbying to insure support by key members of the local communities.
Almaden withheld information about the claim filed against it by the local residents — which poses a risk to its investors, like the Royal Bank of Canada, according to the Stock Echange Commission — and about the on-going investigation led by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) for violating Mexican laws and exceeding the authorized amount and depth of boreholes.
On February 2017, Almaden Minerals stated through a press release that it would continue with the “aggressive” exploration of the area despite the rejection of its preventive report by the Natural Resources and Environment (Semarnat) refusing the permit to drill 69 new boreholes. Almaden failed to inform to its investors and continued to trade stocks to finance a new phase of exploitation.