Colombia coal, nickel, silver production falls in 2015

Colombia's production of coal, nickel, silver and platinum all fell last year, while gold, emerald and iron ore output rose, the government said.

Coal output fell 3.5% to 85.5Mt in 2015, compared with 88.6Mt a year earlier, according to the national mining agency (ANM). Colombia, Latin America's largest coal producer, was hampered by a strike by railway operator Fenoco and neighboring Venezuela's decision to close its borders in September.

Nickel output fell 11% to 80.8Mlb in 2015 from 90.9Mlb a year earlier because of a two-week strike at Cerro Matoso, owned by BHP Billiton spin-off South32, the agency said. Emeralds totaled 1.78mn carats, up 15% from a year earlier, while iron ore jumped 33% to 901,736t in 2015, the agency said.

Gold production rose 3.8% to 1.9Moz last year from 1.83Moz a year earlier, according to the agency. Silver production fell 11.7% to 326,482oz, while platinum dropped 24% to 27,669oz, the agency said.

"Despite difficulties, the figures show a solid mining industry," ANM president Silvana Habib said in the statement. "The national mining agency is working together with our miners to unblock pending permits and efficiently face the crisis the extractive sector is going through."

Colombia has lined up gold, silver and copper mining projects including AngloGold Ashanti's Gramalote and La Colosa deposits, Eco Oro Minerals' Angostura and Continental Gold's Buritica. Vancouver-based Red Eagle Mining began construction work at its US$55mn San Ramón gold mine last year.

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