Updated Jan. 29 with comment from Unifor

Torex Gold confirmed to CIM Magazine that a man whose death Wednesday a Canadian union has associated with the ongoing strike at Torex’s El Limon-Guajes mine in Mexico’s Guerrero state was not a current mine employee.

Canadian union Unifor said on Thursday it was “outraged at the murder of a third worker striking” against Torex.

Workers have been blockading the mine site’s primary entrance since early November, in what Torex has insisted is not a strike but rather an “illegal blockade,” to protest their current union. They are currently represented by Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), Mexico’s largest union, but say they want to be represented by Los Mineros, a more independent union affiliated with Canadian labour groups.

Torex suspended employment contracts for its workforce in late December, and regained access to the site in early January. It restarted operations last week.

According to Unifor, Los Mineros identified the man who was killed as Quintin Salgado, a miner and labour activist working with the Torex strikers who, last week, was allegedly beaten and threatened with further violence if he continued to advocate for a union switch.

"On Wednesday his killer came to his home – it's unclear how he ended up outside so we're not sure if he was already outside or if he was chased or forced out," Unifor spokesperson Kathleen O'Keefe said in an email. "A woman at the home also sustained some injuries."

Gabriela Sanchez, Torex’s vice-president of investor relations, said in an email that the company had been informed of “an incident in the town of Nuevo Balsas two days ago” that resulted in a person’s death.

Sanchez said Salgado was not currently employed by the mine. “Like many locals he had worked for the project in the past, and his work contract ended back in 2014,” she wrote.

“We believe it is unfortunate to see some labour groups using human tragedy to falsely drive their own political agendas.”

With files from Joel Barde