Mexican Revokes Permit For Canadian Gold Mine

MARK STEVENSON

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico revoked the environmental authorization Friday for a Canadian-owned open-pit gold mine that critics say threatens one of the most historic sites in the north-central state of San Luis Potosi.

The Environment Department said in a statement that it has pulled the permit for Minera San Xavier, a property of Vancouver, Canada-based New Gold Inc., in accordance with a court ruling in October.

The ruling struck down the government's 2006 conditioned approval of the project's environmental impact statement, and ordered environmental authorities to reject the statement.

Opponents welcomed the decision. They say local watersheds were threatened by the cyanide used to leech gold out of huge mounds of crushed rock.

"This is a battle won, because the judges have given the final word," said Ana Maria Alvarado, who represents communal land owners around the Cerro de San Pedro, as the site is known.

The mine has been operating for more than two years, blasting apart mountainsides just a few dozen yards away from the church and main square of the 16th-century town of San Pedro.