Canadian mining company Agnico Eagle said on Wednesday that a group of armed men stormed one of its mines in northern Mexico early on Tuesday morning, injuring a security guard and making off with a haul of silver and gold.
Agnico Sonora, the company’s Mexican subsidiary, did not provide an estimate of the value of the theft, but said the La India mine, in the northwestern state of Sonora, was operating normally, with soldiers and police conducting an investigation.
The company said in a statement it has been operating in Sonora, an arid state known for drug violence, since 2014.
According to Agnico’s website, the La India mine sits 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of the city of Hermosillo. The mine has a lifespan of seven years and is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold in 2016.
Thefts within mines are relatively rare in Mexico, but in April last year, armed men entered McEwen Mining Inc’s El Gallo 1 mine in northern Mexico and made off with 7,000 ounces of gold contained in some 900 kilograms of gold-bearing concentrate.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Chris Reese)
