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Cardenas told Bloomberg late last week that production will go up from 85 million tons in 2011 to 97Mt this year thanks to planned mine expansion projects.
He also said oil production in the country was projected to rise 18% to an average 1.1 million barrels per day.
The projected increase is a change in trend for the South American country, which was saddled much of last year with weather-related slowdowns.
Cardenas told Bloomberg, however, that the high levels of rainfall are coming to an end, with already drier weather in 2012 leading to the end of the La Nina weather pattern.
“That was the end of our second La Nina,” Cardenas said
“The year has started as a very dry year, so now concerns are just the opposite.”
The rainfall also recently put a dampener on output at Colombia’s largest mine. A temporary stoppage was reported in December at Cerrejon, owned by joint venture partners BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata.
