MEXICO CITY, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Mining and transport

conglomerate Grupo Mexico is working with authorities to wipe

illegal mining at its Los Chancas project in Peru, the mining

division's finance chief told analysts in a call on Wednesday.

Leonardo Contreras also said that the company, controlled by

billionaire German Larrea, would restart an environmental impact

assessment of Los Chancas once all illegal miners had been

kicked out of the site.

Grupo Mexico will then "initiate the hydrogeological and

geological studies and conduct a diamond drilling campaign to

gather additional information on the deposits' characteristics,"

Contreras added.

The firm had previously reported that dozens of illegal

miners had invaded the project located in Peru's southern

Apurimac region.

It

started legal action

against them back in 2023 in order to continue the

project's development, estimated at a $2.6 billion investment.