According to reports from both Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Mining Agency, coal production dropped 4% in the second quarter of 2017, with production falling to 21.4 million metric tons compared to 22.4 million metric tons in the first quarter of 2017. The reductions were attributed to lower production in the country’s Cesar and La Guajira states, falling 4% and 10% respectively.
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Germán Arce said that the drop off in production in La Guajira will be made up in other parts of the country.
“Even though Cesar and La Guajira have decreased their production, the coal prognosis for 2017 is still stable because Boyacá and Cundinamarca have increased their production and market prices have been recovering. The outlook is optimistic for the second semester”, he said.
The construction materials sector experienced 78% growth, from 2.7 million cubic meters to 4.9 million cubic meters for the second quarter. That growth is attributed to renewed enforcement of laws that combat illegal mining, according to Silvana Habib from the National Mining Agency.
“The Union for Construction Materials has made important efforts on combating unlawfulness and evasion. We’re now experiencing results and we have helped with the recovery of this sector in mining”, she said.
