Mining companies in Mexico are asking the government for security assistance due to the increasing incidences of the exploitation of criminal groups to the vulnerability of the industry brought by the COVID-19 crisis, says an article.

Armed Robberies in the Mining Sector

The request comes after two armed robberies were reported in two weeks in Sonora, the key gold mining state in Mexico. Also, there are growing fears of organized crime cartels that are targeting mining operations. The mining sector in Mexico is also affected by the lockdown orders of the government.

Recently, it was reported that armed criminals had stolen the gold-silver doré bar the Mulatos mine of Alamos Gold in Sonora on April 8. They escaped through a light aircraft.

The company had not yet disclosed the value of the bars stolen by the criminal group. However, some local press reveals that the value of the stolen bars is more or less $3 million. The insurance covers the losses from the robbery, says Alamos.

According to AMSAC, a Sonoran mining association, the incident came after a robber where an unknown private property was taken from Fresnillo, a local subsidiary, in Sonora's Caborca municipality on March 26.

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The Powerful Cartels in Mexico

The powerful cartels in Mexico were seen to have been conducting robberies of metal and mineral products after a sudden fall of revenue from illegal drug trade caused by the widespread lockdown orders in the United States of America.

The mining sector has been seen as an easy target due to the government's focus on the COVID-19 crisis.

The latest robbery incident involving the usage of a light aircraft in a highly planned operation is an alarming reminder of the powers of the organized crime groups in Mexico.

A lot of Mexican miners had already shifted to air shipments to deliver high-value metals due to the increasing number of road cargo theft in the country. However, the Mulatos incident reveals the risk of air shipment.

The use of an aircraft for an organized crime to steal a precious metal such as gold from the Alamos subsidiary reveals their ability to comprehend the transportation and logistics schedule of different mining sites, says Carlos Cadenas, HIS Market's director of Latin America.

Exploiting the Current Weakness of the Mining Sector

Despite the presence of already costly and sophisticated security measures being implemented by Mexican mining businesses, organized Mexican criminal groups continue to take advantage of the industry's weaknesses.

In the past few weeks since the spread of COVID-19, only two robberies on the mining sector have been confirmed. However, a lot of theft activities are not reported.

Crime cartels are operating in a lot of major mining areas, such as in Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora, Michoacán, and Guerrero.