Displaying items by tag: SacTun
Vulcan Materials to increase compensation claims against the Mexican government from US$1.9bn
05 April 2023Mexico: Vulcan Materials is reportedly preparing to launch new legal action against the government of Mexico. The government supported an alleged illegal entry by Cemex into the company's Punta Venado cement terminal on 14 March 2023. The cement producer is engaged in existing lawsuits against the government for compensation worth a total sum of US$1.9bn. It originally sued the government for US$529m in 2019. Local press has reported that the producer previously filed a subordinate claim to its suit for incursions onto its mining operations in Quintana Roo in mid-2022. The latter supplied limestone to Vulcan Materials' US operations.
Mexico: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused the US government of funding environmentalists' challenges to the government's planned Tren Maya tourist railway project. AP News has reported that López Obrador has declared the project a matter of national security.
Cemex is currently embroiled in a dispute with Vulcan Materials subsidiary Sac-Tun over use of the latter's Punta Venado terminal in Quintana Roo. The terminal sits along the planned route of the Tren Maya line. The Mexican State Prosecutor's Office supported Cemex's re-entry into the terminal on 14 March 2023. The government previously rejected Sac-Tun's application to renew its quarrying licence for its quarry at the site of the terminal.
For more on this story, read our Global Cement Weekly analysis.
Cemex explains right to use Punta Venado terminal
21 March 2023Mexico: Cemex says that it is within its rights to have continued using the Punta Venado terminal in Quintana Roo beyond the expiry of its contract with owner Sac-Tun at the end of 2022. Cemex says that it obtained an injunction to continue using the facilities after it began to have difficulty accessing them in late 2022. It subsequently obtained a contempt of court order against Sac-Tun when it tried to prevent it from accessing the terminal.
The Mexican State Prosecutor's Office supported Cemex's re-entry into the Punta Venado terminal on 14 March 2023.
Mexico: US-based Vulcan Materials has accused Cemex of illegally entering and unloading materials at its Punta Venado terminal in Quintana Roo. Vulcan Materials' subsidiary Sac-Tun operates the terminal, which serves its nearby Playa del Carmen quarry. Sac-Tun previously provided handling and unloading services at the terminal for Cemex, under a contract which expired on 31 December 2022. A local court ruled in favour of Cemex in the dispute over its continued use of the facilities on 5 March 2023. A high court intervened with an injunction in favour of Vulcan Materials on 16 March 2023.
Vulcan Materials now plans to take further legal action, according to Forbes. It is currently engaged in another legal dispute against the Mexican government for the latter's refusal to renew Sac-Tun's licence to operate the Playa del Carmen quarry. The producer is seeking damages of US$78.9m. The government said that the quarry had ceased to operate in line with requirements under its environmental impact licence and local land use plans.