Mexico’s Supreme Court will soon rule on a case brought by victims of a massive 2014 mine spill along a river just across the Arizona border in the Mexican state of Sonora.
Residents of the small town of Bacánuchi, a three-and-a-half hour drive south of Sierra Vista, are hoping the high court will find that they were not adequately consulted by the federal government before it approved a large new tailings pond at the Buenavista del Cobre copper mine.
It was a spill at that same mine in August 2014 that sent millions of gallons of copper sulfate down the Bacanuchi and Sonoran rivers in one of Mexico’s most serious environmental disasters in decades. Buenavista — owned by Grupo Mexico — is one of the largest copper mines in the world.
An attorney representing community members in the case told KJZZ that a final decision could come Wednesday, though it has already been delayed twice.
The company did not respond to a request for comment. The decision could set precedent for other similar cases, according to a court document.
