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Prodeco, a subsidiary group of the Swiss Glencore in Colombia for the production of thermal coal, announced that it will begin the process of returning its mining titles to Colombia through the National Mining Agency (ANM).
(Prodeco suspends all its coal work in Cesar).
The company, It is the third largest exporter of the aforementioned mineral in the country, after Cerrejón and Drummond, and has a direct line with the Swiss multinational, which in turn is one of the shareholders of Cerrejón (33.3%), the largest coal project in Colombia.
Through a statement, Prodeco highlights that the delivery of their titles is a consequence of the crisis that encompasses the sector in the country, to which the pandemic was added, and which resulted in an unviable operation from an economic point of view.
Last December, the ANM denied Prodeco a request to suspend its operations at the Calenturitas and La Jagua mines (Cesar). From there, the miner began a review of its operating costs, affected by expectations of downward prices in the coal market.
“The decision to renounce the mining contracts has not been made lightly and is a disappointing result,” assured the company, and reiterated that the two mines will remain under maintenance until the formal process derived from the resignation of the titles has been completed.
Regarding the Puerto Nuevo port of export, the Prodeco Group made it clear that “it will continue to operate in line with its public service obligations.”
During 30 years of mining activity in the country, Prodeco has invested more than US $ 3 billion, and has paid a similar amount in royalties and taxes. In addition, the company generates 1,200 direct jobs.
Prodeco reported that, given the impact that its departure will generate, it will support its employees, contractors and the communities neighboring its operation, and assured that it will offer a voluntary retirement program to its collaborators “Significantly higher than required under Colombian law.”
For its part, the ANM reported that this Thursday, February 4, it officially received the request to renounce the mining rights of the titles of the Prodeco group in Colombia, after which the entity indicated that it will carry out the evaluation and define whether it is legally viable .
“The evaluation process includes a rigorous review of compliance with legal and contractual obligations derived from mining titles, including environmental, social and economic obligations”said the ANM.
Analysts from the mining sector explained to Portafolio that the road to leaving a large-scale and industrial extractive operation in Colombia is long and complex. More so when it is the first time in the history of the country that a company like Prodeco seeks to resign from its task.
One of the reasons is that national regulations require that they be up to date, and in good standing, at the time of resignation. Thus, once both the Nation and the company agree to put an end to it, the second stage comes, which is the liquidation, also by mutual agreement (according to the 1955 law, article 26).
Nevertheless, This process is also cumbersome, because the parties must agree on who assumes the payments and obligations, which assets remain in the country and which are not, and what is reverted, that is, everything related to the total closure.
In the same way, there must be an endorsement of the environmental authority, on the subject in the area of influence of the mining project.
