Labour conditions, employer responsibility under spotlight
Mexican authorities are investigating whether Canadian mining company Vizsla Silver Corp. bears any responsibility in the suspected cartel kidnapping of 10 of its workers in Sinaloa, five of whom have since been found dead.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said the federal Attorney General’s Office, led by Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos, is examining the circumstances surrounding the 23 January abductions and the conditions under which the miners were employed, according to CBC News. The case is being treated as part of a broader federal probe into violence affecting industrial operations in the region.
“We have to … look into exactly what the labour conditions were for these miners and see if there is or isn’t responsibility,” on the part of Vizsla Silver Corp. employees, Sheinbaum said at a morning news conference in Mexico City, as reported by CBC.
She added that investigators are also analysing whether extortion or threats played a role in the kidnapping, underscoring that the inquiry goes beyond identifying the gunmen to assessing potential corporate exposure.
Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) previously reported that 10 workers were abducted at gunpoint from Vizsla’s Panuco silver project in late January. The publication noted that some of those workers were later found dead near the project site outside Concordia, in what workplace watchdogs say fits an “all too common pattern” of violence around resource projects in high‑risk regions.
The workers were taken from a gated residential compound in the municipality of Concordia, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Five of the 10 were later found dead near the rural village of El Verde, about five kilometres away, with other bodies and human remains also discovered in the area, CBC reported. An engineer employed by another company was kidnapped the same morning while waiting for a ride near Vizsla Silver’s exploration operations, about 40 kilometres east of Concordia, and remains missing.
Cartel conflict and contested territory
Sheinbaum said security officials have linked the case to a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as Los Chapitos, followers of the sons of jailed drug lord Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán, who are fighting a rival faction called La Mayiza loyal to the son of Ismael (El Mayo) Zambada, CBC reported.
Authorities describe the feud as a nearly 18‑month civil war within the cartel that has left thousands of people dead or disappeared across Sinaloa.
Vancouver‑based Vizsla Silver has confirmed the deaths and defended its security practices. In a statement cited by COS, the company said it had been told by “a number of families that their relatives, our colleagues, who were taken from the Company’s project site in Concordia, Mexico, have been found deceased,” and that it is awaiting formal confirmation from Mexican authorities. President and CEO Michael Konnert said, “We are devastated by this outcome and the tragic loss of life … Our focus remains on the safe recovery of those who remain missing and on supporting all affected families and our people during this incredibly difficult time.”
Separately, the company told CBC that it conducts its security operations “with the highest degree of caution” and maintains a “zero‑tolerance approach” to “any form of unlawful or unethical conduct.”
In a post on social media platform X, Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Cameron MacKay offered condolences to those affected and said Canadian officials are in contact with Mexican authorities and expect those responsible to face justice in the courts.
Wider security pattern and Canadian context
The Concordia case is still under investigation and Mexican prosecutors have made several arrests, according to both CBC and COS, but have not publicly attributed the crime to a specific group in court. COS notes that in many resource‑rich regions, mines are seen by armed actors as lucrative sources of leverage, producing not only extortion and kidnapping but long‑term “protection racket” arrangements. Jamie Kneen of MiningWatch Canada cautioned that such arrangements, where they exist, are “really risky” and can have consequences if they break down.
COS further reported that Kneen sees “a pattern that is all too common” in dangerous jurisdictions, and questions whether companies should operate where safe, lawful work depends on tacit accommodation with organised crime.
In its latest Annual Consular Data Report 2023–2024, Global Affairs Canada reported that 297 Canadians were victims of violent crime abroad that year (assault, homicide and kidnapping combined).
Mexico was the top country for these cases, with 52 Canadians recorded as victims of violent crime.
File photo from Vizsla Silver Corp.
