Armed robbers walked away with an estimated 198kg (437 pounds) of gold, worth about €7.8 million at current prices, from a Canadian-owned mine in western Mexico.
The gold was contained in an estimated 900kg (1,984 pounds) of gold-bearing concentrate, a partially processed form of ore, stolen from the refinery at McEwen Mining Inc's El Gallo 1 mine in Mexico's Sinaloa state on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.
While McEwen is insured, its policy won’t be enough to cover the entire expected loss, the Toronto-based miner said.
“The crime is being vigorously investigated by the Mexican authorities,” the statement said.
“No employees were seriously injured and there was no material damage to any of the company’s facilities.”
Mining and processing activities weren’t impacted and continue uninterrupted.
Tuesday's robbery isn't the first violent incident affecting Canadian mining companies in Mexico this year. Last month, four Goldcorp Inc workers in the troubled Guerrero state went missing in an apparent kidnapping, while contractors and an employee of Torex Gold Resources in the same region were kidnapped in February.
Bloomberg