Dos Republicas Coal Partnership intends to develop a mine capable of producing 2.7 million tonnes of bituminous coal per annum seven miles northeast of the city of Eagle Pass in Texas’ Maverick County.

DRCP is a Texas-based subsidiary of the Mexican company Minera del Norte.

According to a report by The Texas Tribune the Eagle Pass-based tribe was the leader of local environmental opposition to the mine’s development.

Disappointment about the Native American tribe’s surprising withdrawal has suggested a major step forward for the Mexican coal company.

“That [withdrawal] hurt us really, really badly from all sorts of angles,” Maverick County Environmental and Public Health Association vice-president George Baxter said in the Texas newspaper.

“We lost their expert witnesses, the attorney who was the most dedicated of all opposition lawyers, and, of course, we lost their financial resources.”

The project includes plans to extract coal for about seven to eight years for export to operations in Mexico.

DRCP has emphasized that coal will not be crushed or washed in the US.

Minera del Norte is part of the Mexican steel giant Grupo Acerero del Norte and reported that it had decided to use an experienced US mining company to operate the Eagle Pass Mine.