The Canadian company ignored workers’ complaints about drug-dealing links at the Mexican gold mine, sources said.

A number of workers at a Canadian-owned Mexican gold mine have gone unanswered after complaining to an ethics hotline alleging local management is working with a prominent organized crime group to expel an existing union, according to two former local union members.

A labor panel, initiated by the US under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), recently ruled that management at the Vancouver-based Camino Rojo gold mine, owned by Orla Mining, violated the rights of its workers by allowing them to face threats and coercion ahead of the November 2024 vote on union representation.

This week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her security cabinet is now reviewing allegations that the Sinaloa cartel – a terrorist organization in Canada – armed Camino Rojo workers to vote for a union chosen by management.

More than a dozen workers called Orla Mining’s “Ethics” hotline at work between July and December 2024, according to two union members from Camino Rojo who were forced to flee their homes due to death threats as a result of the union battle.

While some workers received code numbers linked to their complaints, none saw a strong follow-up from the company’s human resources department, which oversees the call, according to local members of the National Union of Workers for Mining, Metalworking and Similar (Mineros Union) in Camino Rojo.

The Mineros Union holds collective bargaining rights at the mine from 2021 until a controversial 2024 vote.

CBC News is not releasing the names of the two union members, as they fear for their safety after receiving multiple death threats.

“We appreciate it [Orla Mining’s human resources department] in all that was happening, how [management] they made an agreement with drug traffickers, they never did anything,” said the first member of the union.

“The truth is, there has never been any kind of response,” said a second union member.

Orla Mining did not respond to CBC News’ request for comment on this story. In a statement issued earlier this week, said Orla Mining “has been engaged in discussions with the governments of Mexico and the United States” and is taking “additional measures” following the task force’s findings.

‘Acts of pressure and intimidation’

The Camino Rojo gold mine is located 600 kilometers north of Mexico City, in a desert area in the municipality of Mazapil, in the province of Zacatecas. It is owned by Orla Mining, which is headquartered in Vancouver and recently purchased the Musselwhite gold mine in northwestern Ontario.

In February, CUSMA’s three-member rapid response labor panel concluded that workers at the Camino Rojo mine faced a “denial” of labor rights.

The panel said management was involved in “employer agitation,” and was “agreeable to acts of pressure and intimidation” on workers to vote for the elected union, the National Union of Exploration, Exploitation and Processing Mine Workers (Beneficio de Minas).

When Camino Rojo management negotiated a collective bargaining agreement in early 2024 with the Mineros Union, it began planning to replace Beneficio de Minas, the panel said.

Management hired a member of the Sinaloa company’s Operativa Flechas group on a contract that threatened workers during a months-long battle between union organizations, according to documents from Office of the US Trade Attorney.

Orla Mining said in its second quarter August 2025 filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is “reviewing possible criminal activities [Camino Rojo] mine.” The company said it notified the RCMP about the matter, as well as authorities in Mexico and the US, according to the filing.

The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment.

In its statement on Tuesday to CBC News, Orla Mining said that the review is ongoing and that the company “it was developing mine safety measures in cooperation with the authorities.”

A US government personnel investigation found that a member of Operativa Flechas, nicknamed “el Paul” and “el Mocho,” appeared at Mineros Union meetings with armed men and issued death threats to Mineros Union members.

Other US entries include a picture of el Paul in front of a car with an Orla Mining logo on the door.

David Saucedo, a corporate security consultant based in Mexico City, told CBC News that Operativa Flechas is part of the Mayiza group of the Sinaloa cartel, which remains loyal to former Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael (El Mayo) Zambada García, who is awaiting sentencing in the US.

‘Spend my days in hiding’

Two former members of the Camino Rojo union told CBC News that they were forced to flee their homes and families.

“It’s really difficult, my youngest daughter didn’t want to go to another school and she blamed me for everything, she said everything was my fault,” said the first member of the union who has two children.

“I spend my days hiding in one place and spending them in another because of fear, because I still receive threats.”

Union members said they wanted Orla Mining to apologize to those who allowed it to happen in their workplace – something the union also recommended.

“[Orla Mining] they must admit that there is a problem, because until now they have not seen it,” said the second member of the union.

“If they admit this, they will cut off the relationship they have with these people who are part of drug trafficking.”