Grupo Mexico's Spanish mine project back on track as tender doubts end

A Spanish court has cleared Mexican miner Grupo Mexico of any wrongdoing over its winning bid for the Aznalcollar mine in Spain, a Mexican newspaper said on Monday, citing an interview with a top company executive.

In February, a Grupo Mexico-Minorbis consortium was chosen as the winning bid by the government of Andalusia to reopen and operate the Aznalcollar copper, zinc and lead mine near Sevilla.

The 30-year concession was frozen in May over allegations of corruption by a rival bidder, though the Spanish court investigating the case dismissed it last week and the local government in the Andalusia region said the mine was reopening.

Grupo Mexico's Chief Financial Officer Daniel Muñiz said the mine would help the company diversify its mining operations, particularly with regards to zinc.

Grupo Mexico estimates that Aznalcollar's reserves of the three base metals total 35 million tonnes, and has said it plans to invest 300 million euros (US$342 million) in the project, with a plan to begin commercial production by 2018.