In 2006, farmers from the Huizopa ejido signed a contract with Minefinders, giving the company access to their land for 16 years.

[2] The state of Chihuaua has been militarised by the Mexican drug war,[3] and when Pan-American Silver (PAS) bought the mine in 2012, there was an ongoing territorial dispute between organised crime groups.

[5][6] In 2020, research carried out by EJAtlas, MiningWatch Canada, Earthworks and the Institute for Policy Studies found that Pan-American Silver was involved in several environmental conflicts in Latin America and that these conflicts "demonstrate a lack of respect for communities defending their territories from mining.

[4] One hundred Indigenous Pima families were displaced during the mine's development due to contamination and diversion of the Tutuaca River.

In 2010, a tear was discovered in one of the leach pads,[8] and the mine leaked cyanide sodium into the environment, but complaints about the contamination were ignored.

[3] In May 2018, armed criminal groups set up checkpoints around the mine, forcing the company to curtail operations.