Officials said it was planning a public-private partnership with the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura (ANI) of Colombia for the project, which will transport its high-quality metallurgical coal from central Colombia to export terminals on the northern coast.
New Colombia, which changed its name this month from VSUS Technologies, is negotiating with consultants for the development of a prefeasibility study to submit to the ANI.
Once approved, the company and its partners, who will own the project, will conduct a feasibility study and a consortium will be granted a 30-year railroad concession.
“Since the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia was approved by the US, commerce between Colombia and the US has increased, creating a need for more infrastructure projects to move cargo,” the company said, noting that shipping from ports are currently trucked over 500 miles.
“The prefeasibility study will identify shippers, with letters of intent, that need to move cargo to and from the ports.”
The operator said that more than 6 million tonnes of cargo was shipped from central Colombia to the country’s ports each year, about 3Mt of which was coal.
That number stands to jump significantly with the completion of the area’s exploration projects by New Colombia and its neighbors.
“One of the biggest problems coal companies face in Colombia is getting coal to the ports. Producers in the region are trucking coal to the ports at a profit,” New Colombia president John Campo said.
“We have identified several large multi-national companies that are exploring in our area that would benefit from this railroad. An ownership stake in a railroad should significantly increase our profit margins.”
The company’s 100% owned La Tabaquera mine has an estimated 15-17 million tonnes of reserves, about 70% metallurgical and 30% thermal.
Once the necessary financing is obtained, the company plans to have three revenue producing business units in Colombia – coal mining, coking oven facilities, and docks, river and rail transportation to export terminals.
The company is looking at allegiances with US universities to study the capture of Colombian coalbed methane.
