MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -A 2014 toxic spill in a Mexican river blamed on mining firm Grupo Mexico was not an accident but a cause of negligence, the country’s environment minister said on Thursday, while urging the company to create a new plan to remediate the damage.
“It was not an accident, it was negligence,” Environment Minister Maria Luisa Albores said, adding that the government filed a complaint against the mining giant in August.
The company failed to remediate the river’s water and soil and did not provide the funds to carry out proper works for the environmental recovery of the area, according to Albores.
The company needed to provide an initial 2 billion pesos ($111.86 million), of which it only provided half, she said.
Grupo Mexico did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the causes of the spill and the government complaint.
($1 = 17.8793 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle)
