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Canadian miner Vizsla Silver told workers abducted from the company’s site in Concordia on Monday, Mexicothey were found dead.
Last month, the Vancouver-based company reported that 10 of its workers had been kidnapped from its Panuco project in Mexico.
The miner said it was awaiting confirmation from Mexican authorities and would provide further updates.
The company’s shares fell 7.1 percent in morning trading.
Mexican authorities said Friday that at least one body matching the characteristics of one of the 10 miners abducted from a mine in the northern state of Sinaloa late last month has been found in a secret grave.
Mexico’s attorney general’s office said steps were being taken to confirm the victim’s identity and gather evidence from a grave in Concordia, where the remains of several other bodies were found about 45 km (28 miles) east of the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan. Police have yet to formally identify any bodies.
Family members interviewed by Reuters said some of the Vizsla Silver Corp mine workers who went missing had received threats from organized crime groups in the area, including the Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel run by the sons of former Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
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Security Minister Omar Garcia confirmed last month that the area where the miners disappeared is under the control of Chapitos. The silver mine has been closed since the kidnapping.
Authorities have yet to determine the reason why the group was abducted on January 23.
Jaime Lopez, the uncle of Pablo Osorio, a 26-year-old engineer and one of the missing men, said that because the family was poor, they would not be able to afford the ransom.
“We’re devastated,” he said, adding that he didn’t want his nephew to go to Concordia because it was dangerous, but it was the only place that responded to his job applications when he graduated three years ago. “We will do everything in our power to find him.”
“We can’t believe it,” he said in tears after hearing about the mass grave. Lopez said he was awaiting word from authorities to find out if his nephew was among the remains found at the site.
The Mexican government sent more than 1,000 troops, including soldiers and elite marines, to the area this weekend to locate the missing miners. On Thursday, four suspects were arrested in this case.
