[1][2] Artisanal mining started in the early 19th-century and continued until 2018, at which point operations reduced to leaching.

El Chanate is an open-pit gold mine located in the Altar Municipality of Sonora,[3] close to the Mexico–United States border,[4] in the northwest of Sonora, Mexico that is owned by Canadian corporation Alamos Gold.

[4] The mine covers 4,618 hectares and is located around a fault, above sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

[5] In the 2007, Capital Gold Corp's subsidiary Minera Santa Rita, started working the mine.

[7] In 2016, the mine's operators spilled 10,000 litres of cyanide solution, some was captured in ponds and some contained local soil, before being relocated into a lined leach pad.