Canadian miner Vizsla Silver said on Monday staff who were abducted from the corporate’s project site in Concordia, Mexico, have been found dead.
Last month, the Vancouver-based company had reported that 10 of its staff were abducted from its Panuco project in Mexico.
The miner said it’s awaiting confirmation from the Mexican authorities and can provide further updates.
Shares of the corporate were down 7.1 per cent in morning trading.
Mexican authorities said on Friday that a minimum of one body matching the characteristics of one among 10 mine staff who were kidnapped from a mine in northern Sinaloa state late last month was present in a clandestine grave.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said steps were being taken to verify the victim’s identity and collect evidence from the grave in Concordia, where stays of several other bodies were found some 45 km (28 miles) east of the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan. Police were yet to formally discover any of the bodies.
Members of the family interviewed by Reuters said among the staff on the Vizsla Silver Corp mine who went missing had received threats from organized crime groups in the realm including the Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the sons of ex-Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
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Security Minister Omar Garcia confirmed last month that the realm where the miners went missing is under the control of the Chapitos. The silver mine has been closed for the reason that kidnapping.
Authorities have yet to determine a reason as to why the group was kidnapped on January 23.
Jaime Lopez, the uncle of Pablo Osorio, a 26-year-old engineer and one among the boys who went missing, said because the family was poor they might not have the option to afford a ransom.
“We’re devastated,” he said, adding he had not wanted his nephew to go to Concordia because it was dangerous, but it surely was the one place that had responded to his job applications when he finished his degree three years ago. “We’re going to do every thing in our power to search out him.”
“We are able to’t consider it,” he said in tears after hearing of the mass grave. Lopez said he was awaiting news from the authorities to search out out whether his nephew was among the many stays found at the positioning.
Mexico’s government sent over 1,000 troops, including soldiers and elite marines, to the realm this weekend to locate the missing miners. On Thursday, 4 suspects were arrested over the case.