MAG Silver Corp. (MAG), which explores for precious metals in Mexico, fell the most in almost four years after saying it was expelled from a project in Chihuahua state.
The shares dropped 12 percent to C$9.96 in Toronto, the biggest decline since December 2008.
Members of a local assembly in Benito Juarez decided Nov. 17 to expel the Vancouver-based company from its Cinco de Mayo property and establish a 100-year mining moratorium at the site, MAG said today in a statement. MAG said its taking legal action at state and federal levels to reverse the action.
MAG is strongly of the view that the assembly meeting was called and conducted illegally as a result of the efforts of a concentrated group of radical activists opposed to mining in the region, the company said in the statement.
The Cinco de Mayo property, which covers 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres), contains gold and molybdenum, a metal used in steelmaking, according to MAGs website.
Mexican silver producer Fresnillo Plc (FRES) has a 16 percent stake in MAG, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lydia Mulvany in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at [email protected]
