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Strikes, environmental woes led to Colombian setback

COLOMBIA’S mining industry missed its production targets by about 9 million tonnes, according to a government body created to oversee a growing economy from the country’s mining boom.

Donna Schmidt
Strikes, environmental woes led to Colombian setback

The National Mining Agency said the Andean nation produced 89.2Mt for the year, missing its goal of 97.5Mt, according to Reuters.

Cerrejon met its target of 34.3Mt but Drummond fell short of its projected 28.9Mt with 26Mt.

Glencore aimed for 17.2Mt and actually produced 14.7Mt.

All other sources of Colombia’s coal fell short as well.

NMA said the target was missed because of the industry’s issues with strikes last year, as well as environmental permits.

Strikes were nearly the order of the day last year.

A strike at Fenoco – the main coal railway and a walkout at a Glencore-owned mine took away months of production.

So too did delays in environmental permits and a rise in guerrilla attacks.

On a more positive note, the NMA told the news service that national output rose 4% in 2012 over the 85.8Mt Colombia produced in 2011.

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