Newmont in two countries: Peñasquito pay, a USMCA case, MSHA
In 2026 Newmont's Peñasquito mine paid workers the full 10% profit share and drew a USMCA labor case. Its US mines carry 18 MSHA-recorded deaths. We checked each claim against the filings.
In June 2026 Newmont's Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas paid its unionized workers 3,358 million pesos in profit sharing, the full 10% of profits, and the same month the United States opened a USMCA labor case against the same mine. North of the border, the company's US mines carry 18 recorded fatalities and 6,471 MSHA citations. Here is what each record says, checked against the documents.
Mexico, part one: the full 10%
Mexican law gives workers a share of a company's taxable profit, known as PTU (participación de los trabajadores en las utilidades). The rate is 10%. Expansión reported on June 5, 2026 that Peñasquito would distribute 3,358 million pesos, "equivalentes al 10% íntegro de las utilidades de la compañía." The figures come from the miners' union, Los Mineros, which said on June 2 that the total for Section 304 "asciende a la impresionante cantidad de 3,358 millones de pesos."
The per-worker figure is where the sources wobble. Expansión's text says workers began receiving "pagos que superan los 1.5 millones de pesos." The same article's headline, and the union leader's post it quotes, say "hasta 1.5 millones." So the reporting supports payouts of about 1.5 million pesos for some workers, and does not settle whether that was a floor or a ceiling. As a rough check, Zócalo puts the direct workforce at about 2,000; split evenly, 3,358 million pesos is about 1.7 million each. Payouts are not even, so this is only a sanity check.
Why "the full 10%" is news
The 2021 subcontracting reform, the same law that created Mexico's REPSE registry for outsourcing providers, also added a cap on each worker's PTU. Article 127, section VIII of the Ley Federal del Trabajo now reads: the payout "tendrá como límite máximo tres meses del salario del trabajador o el promedio de la participación recibida en los últimos tres años; se aplicará el monto que resulte más favorable al trabajador." In a high-profit year at a mine, three months' wages can be far below a true 10% share. The union presented the Peñasquito deal as avoiding "esquemas de reparto limitados que suelen utilizar algunas compañías tras la reforma en materia de subcontratación."
That framing deserves one fair addition. Newmont did not decide this in 2026. Its own annual report for 2023 says that "Newmont and the Union reached a CBA in June 2022 whereby Union represented workforce will participate in uncapped profit-sharing bonus up to 10%." The 2026 payout is that 2022 contract paying out in a profitable year. The company could have applied the cap and agreed in writing not to. For how Mexican authorities have enforced the rest of the 2021 reform, see the REPSE fines and court cases on record in Mexico.
Mexico, part two: the 2023 strike
The uncapped 10% did not prevent a strike. Newmont's 10-K for 2023 states that "On June 7, 2023, the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (the 'Union') notified the Company of a strike action," demanding "a 20 percent instead of 10 percent profit-sharing." Newmont suspended operations at Peñasquito. Newmont says it "urged the Union to abide by the mutually agreed CBA." On October 13, 2023 the parties reached an agreement approved by the Mexican labor court.
Under that agreement Newmont paid workers about 60% of wages for the strike period plus a two-month bonus, "given that the Peñasquito mine reported no profit in 2023 as a consequence of the strike." A figure circulating online says Peñasquito's gold output fell about 75% that year. We could not find it in the 10-K and do not use it.
Mexico, part three: the USMCA labor case
On June 12, 2026 the Office of the US Trade Representative invoked the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism to review "whether workers at Newmont Corporation's Minera Peñasquito... are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining." USTR said Los Mineros filed the petition on May 13, 2026, alleging retaliation "including through unlawful dismissals." The interagency committee found "sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms." The United States also suspended liquidation of customs entries of goods from the facility.
Mexico's labor ministry (STPS) ran the review. Press accounts of its findings (August 6 and 7) agree on facts and differ on framing. STPS examined three dismissals and, per these reports, gave a non-union reason on record for each: damage to equipment, removal of work material, and an accusation of sexual harassment. It also noted that two of the three men kept union roles after their dismissal. Infobae read that as finding no systematic retaliation. Mine Academy reported that the investigation concluded "existieron afectaciones relacionadas con los derechos de libertad de asociación y negociación colectiva." STPS said the company's measures "formarán parte de un Plan de Reparación acordado conjuntamente" by the two governments.
The plan, as reported:
- A signed and published neutrality letter on union matters, with conduct guidelines, delivered to every worker.
- A formal, confidential complaint channel built with STPS, including paper forms in high-traffic areas.
- Training on union freedom, union democracy and collective bargaining, with STPS taking part.
- STPS-led talks between the company and the union on two of the three dismissal cases.
Status as of October 7, 2026: USTR's public case page for Peñasquito lists only the June 12 request for review and the liquidation-suspension letter. It shows no course of remediation and no resolution, while other closed cases on the same page show both. We found no public notice that the suspension of liquidation has been lifted. On the record, the case is in remediation, not closed.
The United States: Newmont's MSHA record
MSHA records every reportable incident, citation and penalty at US mines by controlling company. Newmont's MSHA record on Mining Incidents shows, as of October 7, 2026:
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Fatalities (since 1983) | 18 |
| Reportable incidents (since 1983) | 4,933 |
| Mines on record | 38 |
| Citations since 2000 | 6,471 |
| Significant and substantial citations | 1,213 |
| Penalties proposed | $5,699,050 |
| Penalties paid | $4,577,470 |
| Penalties contested before the Commission | $3.6M, of which $2.5M upheld |
| Imminent-danger orders (since 2010) | 5, most recent 2012 |
Most of the record is old. The last fatality on the timeline is in 2018. Reportable incidents peaked at 284 in 1986 and stayed above 100 a year through most of the 2000s. They fell to 34 in 2019 and to three in 2025. The most recent penalty assessment is dated February 26, 2025. Powered haulage accounts for 11 of the 18 deaths.
The drop after 2019 is partly a change of label, not only a change in safety. Since 2019 several Nevada mines that appear in Newmont's list, including Twin Creeks and the South Area, also appear under a second MSHA controller, "Barrick Nevada Holding LLC; Newmont USA Limited," the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture. That controller shows 3 fatalities among 828 reportable incidents since 2019. A full picture of Newmont's US exposure after 2019 needs both.
What the two records can and cannot tell you
They measure different things: pay and union rights in Mexico, injuries and inspections in the US. Neither proves anything about the other. They do show one company answering to two different enforcement systems. In Mexico, a union petition reached a trade mechanism tied to customs entries in 30 days. In the US, inspectors cite conditions mine by mine and contested penalties go to a review commission.
Method
We read Newmont's 2023 Form 10-K on SEC EDGAR, USTR's June 12, 2026 release and its Rapid Response case page, and Article 127 in the Chamber of Deputies' current text of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (last amended May 14, 2026). The PTU figures come from Expansión and rest on union statements; we found no Newmont statement giving them. We could not reach STPS's own bulletin on gob.mx, so its findings are cited from Agencia Reforma, SDP Noticias, Infobae and Mine Academy. MSHA figures are from Mining Incidents, rebuilt weekly from MSHA's public data.