The production of coal, nickel and gold fell | Economy

The country's mining operation closed the second quarter of 2019 with a drop in mineral production levels compared to the same period of the previous year.

This was revealed by the National Mining Agency (ANM) in its most recent extraction report by reporting that in the second quarter of this year, and consolidated in the first six months, coal, nickel and gold registered respective decreases in their production.

(Coal production falls in the first months of the year).

According to the entity’s report, coal registered a decrease in its production of 4.5%, from 19.8 million tons (19,787,087) in the second quarter of 2018 to 18.9 million tons (18,898,401) in the same period of 2019.

“The coal industry faces three major challenges today. The first is the price of the mineral that, due to a lower demand in the European market, among other reasons, fell during the first semester and its average ranges from $ 65 dollars per ton. The second factor that has affected is climate, especially in regions such as the north coast, affecting large projects of Cesar and La Guajira. And finally, the restrictions imposed by judicial rulings, which have limited the extraction work in projects such as Cerrejón, ”said Silvana Habib Daza, president of the ANM.

The official stressed that “the signing of the extension with Drummond guaranteed the exploitation of 60 million tons of coal, particularly for this year an approximate 8 million tons, which has allowed maintaining the positive economic effect of the production of the mineral in Cesar and sustain production within the forecasts against the challenges that the coal industry has ”.

For its part, Nickel went from 24.9 million pounds in the second quarter of 2018 to 23.3 in the same period of 2019, which means a 6.2% reduction.

However, the production of this mineral has been gaining ground and if compared with the previous quarter, it increased by 13.2%, due, in large part, to the fact that the price has been recovering significantly.

With regard to the gold operation, ANM reported a 7.2% drop in gold mining, from 9.4 tons in 2018 to 8.7 tons in this period.

“Regarding the gold production and marketing chain, controls remain a priority for the Government. The goal is to increase the production of the precious metal, but only framed by legality, ”said the Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez.

Finally, during this quarter, construction materials went from 546,392 cubic meters (mt3) to 1,396,308 mt3.

“Construction materials are a fundamental axis of mining that, in turn, drives other key sectors for the country's development such as infrastructure and housing; That's why we work hand in hand with companies in the sector, ”said the president of the ANM.

Both officials agreed that the Government is committed to the revival of the mining industry, which generates around 350,000 direct jobs and almost one million indirect jobs in Colombia, in addition to significant royalty resources.