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Miner Grupo México
could reopen the country’s largest underground mine in the first quarter of 2019 , after it closed more than a decade ago due to a workers strike, a senior government official said in an interview.
The company began to refurbish the San Martín mine , which has copper, silver, lead, and zinc, a week ago, said Carlos Barcena , the economy minister in the northern state of Zacatecas where the mine is located.
“We expect it to start operating in the first quarter of 2019 ,” Barcena said.
A Grupo México official with knowledge of the situation confirmed the plan, but was not yet authorized to speak to press. A company spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.
Operations in San Martín were suspended in July 2007 due to a labor conflict with the powerful National Miners Union (SNTMMSRM) run by Napoleón Gómez , now an incoming senator.
In 2005 , before the mine was mothballed, San Martín produced about 8,000 tonnes of copper and 19,000 tonnes of zinc .
Earlier this year, seeking to end the dispute, a group of workers on strike from the mine agreed to allow a different group to represent them, the National Federation of Independent Unions (FNSI) .
Last week, the government body responsible for solving labor conflicts decided to end the strike at the request of the FNSI workers.
However, a spokesman for the prior union, SNTMMSRM , said they would file a legal challenge to the resolution. In a press conference on Thursday, Gomez said that the “real miners were still on strike.”
Analysts at Monex said that the startup of operations could help boost Grupo Mexico’s annual sales 1 percent .
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