OSINT: Mexican Cartels and Mining
April 14, 2011. In the western state of Michoacán the drug cartel La Familia. Members of the cartel are supposedly selling natural mineral resources illegally extracted from the mountains along the coast of Michoacán. Member have built relationships with “at least three important, established international companies in Mexico” that export iron ore to China, statements said.
March 2, 2011. Colombia made allegations that the Sinaloa Cartel is now working alongside the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) in the illegal exploitation of coltan, a highly prized mineral used in the electronics industry.
October 15,2010. The mining industry grapples with threats from drug cartels and rising security costs, Mexico's mining chamber said on Thursday. Theft of precious metals is on the rise in Mexico, executives said. About two weeksearlier, 150 gold and silver bars worth $3 million were stolen from a mining company in the central state of Zacatecas
October 15, 2010. Mining firms in Mexico, such as Fresnillo and Pan American Silver, amongst others, have been impacted by thefts and assassinations carried out by drugs cartels. Most criminal activity is taking place in Durango, Coahuila, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Zacatecas.
May 2,2009. Officials say the increasingly sophisticated tunnels that display mining engineering expertise and significant investments of money are very worrisome to border security. The tunnels are being used to transport stolen goods and drugs, including minerals that have been illegally extracted.
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La Familia drug cartel expands into illegal mining
4/14/11
A Mexican drug cartel already raking in hefty profits trafficking narcotics to the United States has discovered a new business in the western state of Michoacán – illegal mining.
A major money launderer from Mexico's La Familia drug cartel arrested on Wednesday allegedly ran a side businesses “selling natural mineral resources illegally extracted from the mountains along the coast of Michoacán.”
“Theft of minerals in the region has been increasing in recent years,” the Attorney General's Office (PGR) said in a statement, Reuters reported late Wednesday.
Ignacio “Nacho” López Medina, captured along with three associates, is also accused of managing cash earned from La Familia's extortions of local residents and businesses, kidnapping operations and drug smuggling.
López Medina has admitted working for La Familia’s head of operations, Servando Gómez Martínez, of the Public Safety Secretariat (SSP) said, EFE reported.
Arrested along with López Medina were Leonor Castañeda Farias, Silvino Téllez García and Yadira Esbeyde García Landa, the latter a bank executive in the Pacific port city of Lázaro Cardenas.
The four suspects are accused of “operations with resources of illegal provenance and organized crime, as well as being members of the organization called La Familia Michoacana,” the official statement said, according to EFE.
MICHOACÁN RICH IN IRON ORE
López Medina built relationships with “at least three important, established international companies in Mexico” that export iron ore to China, the statement said. The companies exported 1.1 million tons of iron ore this year worth $42 million U.S. dollars, Reuters reported.
Government officials were not immediately available to give more details.
Michoacán is largely controlled by La Familia, a tight-knit group of traffickers who hold power in the state with a menacing mix of brutal violence and a pseudo-religious philosophy.
López Medina, who was deported from the United States in 1991 for trafficking heroin, was captured with a Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifle engraved with the words “The Mafia never forgives” and a pistol that said “Killa.”
Mexico, a major copper and silver producer, has an active mining industry with hundreds of mining companies extracting and exploring for minerals across the country, reported Reuters.
The mountains ranges in Michoacán are rich in iron ore, gold, copper, zinc and silver.
Sinaloa Cartel Expands Influence in Colombia, goes into illegal mining!
03/02/2011 InSight, Nick Acosta
Colombia officials announced a joint international effort with U.S. officials intending to locate three middlemen allegedly working for Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias ‘El Chapo,’ in Colombia. The statement follows allegations by Colombia’s chief of police that the Sinaloa Cartel is now working alongside the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) in the illegal exploitation of coltan, a highly prized mineral used in the electronics industry.
The announcements raises significant concerns that the Sinaloa Cartel is continuing to expand its tentacles into South America, following reports about the presence of cartel operatives in Peru and Ecuador. Despite the arrests of local intermediaries working for Guzman Loera in the Andean region, it is likely the powerful cartel will continue to seek new transit points throughout the Americas, as well as expand into new businesses like coltan trafficking in order to compliment the drug trade.
Such is the case involving the hunt for the Cifuentes Villa siblings Jorge Milton, Dolly de Jesus and Hildebrando Alexander in Colombia, who are accused of acting as associates for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Interpol has issued “red notices” for the three suspects, while an order for their extradition on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking is pending in the Southern District of Florida Court, Colombian newsweekly Semana reported Monday.
In an effort to control assets believed to be linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, 45 companies belonging to the Cifuentes Villa family have been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s “Kingpin List.” The list identifies businesses linked to drug traffickers and are thus prohibited from doing business with U.S. companies.
According to investigations, reports Semana, the three suspects inheirited the illegal business run by their brother Francisco Cifuentes Villa, alias ‘Pancho Cifuentes,’ who once worked for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
In another reflection of the growing expansion of the Sinaloa Cartel in Colombia, Director of the Colombian Police Oscar Naranjo Trujillo stated Monday that the FARC and the Sinaloa Cartel are working together in the unlicensed exploitation of coltan in Colombia. Coltan is a mineral from which tantalum is extracted, and is used in the creation of electronics such as cell phones and computer parts.
There are indications that the FARC has taken control of this trade in parts of Vichada and Guainia, operating mines along the Colombia-Venezuela border. Selling the mineral creates an extra source of income for drug traffickers, and has already become a key source of finances for the FARC similarly to the way illicit gold mining is propping up the rebels in the more northern departments of Antioquia and Bolivar.
If the Sinaloa Cartel is working alongside the FARC in the coltan trade, this is not the first sign of cooperation between the two organizations. In December, a computer confiscated from the FARC’s Southern Bloc commander Jose Benito Cabrera, alias ‘Fabian Ramirez,’ reportedly contained information speaking of a business alliance with the Mexicans. The computer files allegedly spoke of a middleman, Mario Sanchez Zavaleta, serving as the Bloc’s link to the Sinaloa Cartel.
More links between Colombian drug traffickers and the Sinaloans were made evident last month with the arrest of Julio Enrique Ayala Muñoz, alias ‘El Condor,’ who reportedly served as the primary intermediary between the Rastrojos and the Sinaloa Cartel.
The influence of the Sinaloa Cartel has increasingly expanded beyond Mexico and has infiltrated other countries in Central and South America. Last week, officials in Costa Rica confiscated 300 kilograms of cocaine and arrested three suspects allegedly working for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexico's mining industry threatened by drug cartels
Posted: Friday , 15 Oct 2010
MEXICO CITY (Reuters)-
Mining firms have shuttered a handful of exploration projects in remote areas of Mexico as the industry grapples with threats from drug cartels and rising security costs, Mexico's mining chamber said on Thursday.
Cartels are threatening mining operations not just in the violent corridor along the U.S.-Mexico border but in isolated, mountainous regions in other parts of Mexico, where traffickers grow marijuana and heroin poppies, the chamber said.
Executives belonging to Mexico's National Mining Chamber have reported cases of drug traffickers extorting, kidnapping, attacking and selling drugs to their workers.
Theft of precious metals is on the rise in Mexico, executives said. The government also said this week it caught one cartel member selling iron ore to firms exporting to China.
"We are living a very difficult situation," said Ramon Davila, the COO of Vancouver-based First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO: Quote).
"There are more and more specific cases of threats from organized crime trying to penetrate areas of mining exploration and operation," he said.
Miners have long seen Mexico, a major copper and silver producer, as a top destination for investment in Latin America. Spending on new projects is on the rise and the industry sees investment at over $13 billion from this year through 2012.
But as bloodshed mounts in Mexico's war on drugs, which has killed over 29,000 people since late 2006, there are some cases of small companies fleeing the country's most perilous areas.
Davila said he knew of at least two companies in Durango state that had shut down exploration projects due to fears of drug violence.
President Felipe Calderon has pledged to crack down on drug cartels and says spiraling violence is a sign the government is making progress as it captures capos and cartels splinter.
But some analysts warn drug violence could eventually undermine the economy as Mexico struggles out of a deep recession and courts international investors.
"Unfortunately, where we operate the response from authorities has not been as fast as we would have liked," Manuel Luevanos, the mining chamber president, said.
STOLEN GOLD, ORE
About two weeks ago, 150 gold and silver bars worth $3 million were stolen from a mining company in the central state of Zacatecas, said Luevanos, also an executive at top silver producer Fresnillo (FRES.L: Quote).
Canadian mining giant Goldcorp (G.TO: Quote) built a landing strip to fly gold out of its Los Filos mine as the country's highways become more fraught with banditry, said Salvador Garcia, the company's Vice President.
Garcia said security costs had risen 5-10 percent this year compared to last year.
Some traffickers have started their own side business in illegal mining, the attorney general's office said this week.
Steel giant ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote) recently lodged a complaint claiming iron was being sacked from its concessions in the western state of Michoacan, Jesus del Campo, an official at the economy ministry, told Reuters.
He said some foreign mining companies were encouraging illegal mining by paying cash for tonnes of iron ore, used to make steel in China, without asking for permits.
Mining executives said drug traffickers were encouraging drug use among some of their employees who make relatively high salaries in poor areas.
"A mining camp is an attractive market for drug dealers," Luevanos said. Companies have taken to giving workers drug tests and firing those who turn up positive.
Drug violence around mining facilities has caused concern for the industry. Fresnillo had a case of workers gunned down in front of their families at a mining camp where employees live, Luevanos said.
"This is not just worrying the management. It is sowing terror among (mining) families and many have fled," he said
Mexico: Mining firms highlight thefts and assassinations
BYLINE: Esmerk
SECTION: ONLINE
LENGTH: 132 words
ABSTRACT
October 15, 2010 Friday
Mining firms in Mexico, such as Fresnillo and Pan American Silver, amongst others, have been impacted by thefts and assassinations carried out by drugs cartels, including the recent theft of gold and silver bars worth USD 3mn (EUR 2.15mn) from La Colorada mine. Most criminal activity is taking place in Durango, Coahuila, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Zacatecas. The Mexican Chamber of Mining (Camimex) has indicated that many firms have been affected by organised crime and First Majestic considers that the situation worsening. A total of USD 4.43bn (EUR 3.18bn) will be invested in mining activities in 2010, with USD 4.17bn in 2011 and USD 4.48bn in 2012. Penasquito mine, produced 25% of the country's gold in 2009, or 400,000 ounces, as well as 3mn ounces of silver.
Underground Threat: Tunnels Pose Trouble from Mexico to Middle East
Saturday, May. 02, 2009
With swine flu frenzy gripping the U.S., the threat coming from south of the Mexico border may seem more real to many Americans than ever before. But the U.S. border authorities who patrol that 1,969 mile long border have another stealth threat to worry about. This month, they will begin installing the first small, 50 mile segment of a "virtual fence" on the dividing line with Mexico. By 2014 most of the border will be home to sensor-equipped towers that are linked to a central communications network. But while proponents argue that the system will help stem the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs and arms coming over the border, most experts admit it will do little to guard against people making their way under it.
And as above ground border defenses and patrols get tougher, that subterranean vulnerability is becoming a growing problem. Since 2001, more than 100 tunnels have been discovered by U.S. law enforcement, compared with just 15 in the 1990s, and the pace is accelerating. Most of those have been uncovered through human intelligence, since there are no currently available technical means to reliably detect tunnels. The Department of Homeland Security started spending research money on detection technologies two years ago. But even the most promising ones — primarily adapted from mining and petroleum exploration industries — are several years from proving reliable. "We see this as one of those frontier threat areas that have to be mitigated but it is a very, very difficult problem area," says Rick Miller, a leading expert at the Kansas Geological Survey.
Most of the tunnels are pretty crude, what law enforcement call gopher holes. Typically just a few feet down and only long enough to get under a fence or two, they can be dug with a pick axe and shovel in the span of just a few nights. Some of them tap into existing infrastructure, using paved roads as roofs, or by punching their way into extensive storm drainage systems that are sometimes shared by border towns, such as with the town of Nogales, Mexico and its northern neighbor in Arizona — also called Nogales.
Far more worrisome are the increasingly sophisticated tunnels that display mining engineering expertise and significant investments of money. A tunnel discovered in 2006 believed to have been financed by the Tijuana Cartel led by the family of Ramon Arellano Felix was around 2,400 feet long and about nine stories deep. It had concrete floors in certain sections, ventilation, electricity and a water drainage system. It went from an industrial area of Tijuana across the border to a warehouse in Otay Mesa, the main commercial port of entry near San Diego. "The technology it used was shocking," says Brian Damkroger, who heads the Borders and Maritime Security programs at Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. (View pictures of high seas border patrol near San Diego.)
In some respects, though, it was predictable. Drug cartels certainly have the money to build these tunnels, and Mexico’s sizeable mining sector means there is plenty of tunnel engineering expertise available, willing or not. There have been at least nine very sophisticated tunnels discovered over the years, some equipped with rails to move contraband more efficiently. Authorities believe at least six cartels are thought to be capable of building major tunnels, and three have already undertaken them. "I would certainly think that [tunneling] would be the preferred way to go for drug smugglers," says Neil Anderson, Professor, Geological Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, who has worked on the issue for the military. "
Still, even for cash flush traffickers, these narco-tunnels are not small undertakings. The Otay Mesa tunnel could easily have cost more than a million dollars; several hundred truckloads would have been needed to carry away the excavated soil. Covert tunneling entails more security risks that cost extra to conceal. On top of that, US officials believe they caught the latest sophisticated tunnel soon after it came online.
"That's a huge hit," says Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Investigations [in San Diego]. "Drug trafficking organizations don't want to lose money, narcotics, houses and the same goes for tunnels — and if they spent a year a digging a tunnel and then to loose that asset so quickly, that has to have some crippling setback effect."
But for a business worth some $25 billion a year, that's debatable. "The cartels can afford to dig ten tunnels, have nine of them get discovered, one doesn't and the money they make off of that one tunnel pays for all ten, and then some, so why not," counters Austin Long, a security expert, and associate political scientist at the Rand Corporation, who points to all the other exotic and expensive ways cartels have devised to bring drugs into the US, including submarines and ultra-light aircraft.