Grupo México, a conglomerate dedicated to mining, rail transport and infrastructure, chaired by billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco, has accumulated a long list of controversial episodes since the late 1990s, ranging from environmental disasters, train accidents and mining catastrophes to labor conflicts, some of them not only in Mexican territory, but also in the United States and Peru, according to public information.
This has not made a dent in its profitability: in the second quarter, Grupo México reported a net profit of 2,093 million dollars, 90.9 percent more than in the same period of 2025. In addition, at the end of last July the market value of the conglomerate had skyrocketed by almost 700 billion pesos (73 percent), reaching a capitalization of one trillion 630 billion pesos, according to reports presented to the Mexican Stock Exchange. Values.
Among its main subsidiaries and affiliates are Americas Mining Corporation, Southern Copper Corporation, Asarco (American Smelting and Refining Company), Minera Los Frailes, Ferrosur, Ferromex, Controladora de Infraestructura Petrolera México, México Compañía Constructora y Controladora de Infraestructura Energética México, among other companies in its mining, transportation and infrastructure divisions.
The deadliest event related to Grupo México occurred on February 19, 2006, when a methane gas explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine, in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila, trapped 65 of the 73 workers on the shift. The unit already had a history of non-compliance with safety measures and, in the last pre-disaster inspection, 43 violations were documented and 48 corrective measures were ordered.
Grupo México suspended work and maintained that there was no chance of survival. In the following years, two bodies were recovered. The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced in 2020 a plan to resume the rescue of remains; The work began later and the first discoveries occurred in 2024. As of July 2026, 36 bodies had been recovered, 31 had already been identified and 28 handed over to their families.
In Buenavista del Cobre, Cananea, an accident that occurred on October 24, 2025 left two workers dead: Roberto Alonso Gil Navarro and Manuel Reyes Moroyoqui. Grupo México confirmed the deaths, but did not publicly specify the causes; The authorities began investigations.
Another accident occurred on February 12, 2014 at the Charcas mine in San Luis Potosí, where five workers died after eight tons of cables and other materials fell on them. After the accident, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security imposed a fine of 13.4 million pesos on the company.
Unprecedented disaster
The largest environmental disaster attributed to Grupo México occurred on August 6, 2014 in Buenavista del Cobre. A failure in the conduction system of the Tinajas dam caused the spill of about 40 thousand cubic meters of acidulated copper sulfate, which reached the Tinajas stream and the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers. The spill traveled some 271 kilometers and affected nearly 22,000 inhabitants of eight municipalities. In 2023, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources described this event as “the worst environmental disaster in the history of metal mining in Mexico.”
The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) detected dozens of administrative and environmental irregularities in Buenavista del Cobre, including the failure to update its single environmental license. In March 2015, it first reported 55 anomalies and fines for 22.9 million pesos; He later confirmed the payment of 23.5 million for 50 faults.
In 2023, a diagnosis requested by Semarnat reported persistent contamination of water, air, flora and fauna, as well as the presence of heavy metals above the norm.
In July 2019, about 3 thousand liters of sulfuric acid were dumped into the Sea of Cortez from the Guaymas maritime terminal, operated by Metalúrgica de Cobre, a subsidiary of Grupo México. The company attributed the leak to a valve failure during tests to load a ship.
The most recent episode occurred in the early morning of July 26, when several cars of a Ferromex train derailed in the vicinity of the Potrero El Cobre ranch, in the Cuauhtémoc ejido, municipality of Naco, Sonora. 70,300 liters of sodium hydrosulfide were spilled, reaching a stream. The agency ordered containment measures and indicated that Ferromex must assume environmental remediation. The company attributed the derailment to a landslide caused by rain.
In Zacatecas, the San Martín Mining Unit, in Sombrerete, was reported in May 2019 for the discharge of about 20 thousand liters of water with sediments into natural soil after a failure during maintenance tests. Later reports indicated the presence of cyanide, copper sulfate and zinc sulfate in the sediments.
On August 6, 2025, a Ferromex locomotive separated from a convoy and hit three vehicles and a motorcycle at two intersections in Irapuato, Guanajuato. The accident left six dead and two injured.
In labor matters, the Cananea mine conflict dates back to 2004, when workers demanded a payment equivalent to 5 percent of the shares that, according to the union, corresponded to them after privatization. The strike, which lasted more than 18 years, began on July 30, 2007. That year, the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board initially declared the Cananea, Taxco and Sombrerete strikes non-existent at the request of the companies.
The conflict formally concluded in December 2025 with the Comprehensive Environmental Justice and Social Justice Plan for Cananea. The agreement committed 2,222.6 million pesos, with contributions from Grupo México, the federal and state governments and resources previously deposited by the company.
United States and Peru
Grupo México acquired control of Asarco in 1999. In the bankruptcy process, in 2009, a payment of $1.79 billion was agreed to finance cleanup and restoration work at more than 80 sites contaminated by Asarco in 19 states. Additionally, more than 120 federal violations related to environment, health and safety have been recorded at facilities in Arizona and Texas since 2000.
In Peru, Southern Copper Corporation, controlled by Grupo México through Americas Mining Corporation, operates the Toquepala and Cuajone mining complexes and the Ilo metallurgical facilities. In January 2015, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Environmental Matters requested two years and six months in prison and a reparation of one million dollars for Óscar González Rocha, then executive president of Southern Peru, for an alleged crime of environmental contamination related to arsenic emissions and spills in Ilo.
Opposition to the Tía María project, in the Tambo valley, Arequipa, caused protests and clashes in 2011 and 2015. Four people were reported dead and 20 gunshot wounds during the conflicts.
Other incidents throughout these 30 years are the derailment of a shipment of sulfuric acid in Nogales, Sonora (2014), the rupture of the tailings dam in Bolaños, Jalisco (2010), the overturning of a tank car in La Caridad, Nacozari de García (2016), derailments in Aguascalientes (2026) and Apaxco, state of Mexico; the closure of the El Paso, Texas, smelter (1999); Asarco's lawsuit against Americas Mining Corporation for fraudulent transfer of assets (2008) and the attempted reopening of the Hayden, Arizona smelter (2024).
