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Mario Chaves Restrepo – [email protected]
At a time when new mining projects such as those in Quebradona or Soto Norte meet considerable resistance, today the inauguration of a gigantic gold project in Antioquia will take place, key to promoting the sector: Buriticá, an initiative that had US $ 610 million of investment in its construction phase and that becomes a bastion of Chinese investment in Colombia.
The history of this mine dates back to 2007, when Canadian Continental Gold began operating a small, smaller-scale mine in Buriticá. In parallel, he began his exploration work in the territory. On November 4, 2016, the company received the support of the Buriticá community in the Public Hearing held in the municipality and, that same month, Anla approved the modification of its environmental license.
Since 2017, the construction of the large-scale mining project began, and at the end of last year talks began with the china Zijin Mining for possible sale, a transaction that ended in March this year with the payment of 5.5 Canadian dollars per share (about US $ 989 million in total), with which the Asians took control of the mine and completed the works.
This Project of National Strategic Interest (Pine) has 14 expected years of mining exploitation, more than 3.7 million ounces of gold in reserves and is currently in the commissioning phase and will begin commercial operation in December. Initially, it will have 30 simultaneous underground work fronts, it will process 2,500 tons of mining material per day, which will allow it to produce up to 240,000 ounces of gold per year. The goal is to reach 40 simultaneous underground work fronts, 4,000 tons of mining material processed per day, which would allow the production of 300,000 ounces of gold per year.
According to accounts from the Ministry of Mines, “this project will contribute to the diversification of the country’s mineral matrix: an estimated production of eight tons of gold per year over a useful life of 14 years, increasing national production by 18 % (currently it is 36.6 tons) ”.
With that data, Zijin Continental Gold estimates say the project will bring in $ 3 billion in taxes and royalties and will generate 2,318 jobs. Of these jobs, the mining company highlighted, 1,243 are employees and apprentices, 1,075 are contractors, 77.7% are from Antioqueños, 70.4% of the operating personnel and the apprentices are from Buriticá and the area of influence, 95% of the employees are Colombian and 20% of direct workers are women.
In addition to the employment generated, the mining company highlighted the impetus it has given to the formalization of small miners in the mine territory, since it leverages seven formalization companies with people from the municipality, “who work with the company through four subcontracts of formalization (the first in the country with an environmental license) and four operating contracts ”. With that, the company linked 130 miners; and has also carried out 722 trainings.
Regarding the social investments made by the company, the Chinese company said that they were $ 4,500 million in community infrastructure, $ 2,700 million in the Productive Chain Program, $ 2,200 million invested in the Siembra Futuro Agricultural Development Program, $ 300 million to co-finance the purchase of garbage compactor cars for the municipalities of Buriticá and Cañasgordas; and in 2019 they made purchases from local suppliers for $ 17,875 million.
Among other things, the company highlighted that they have awarded 49 higher education scholarships given to young people from the West, they have certified 2,800 people in training for employment, they have 222 young people certified as technicians in underground mining work, industrial mechanical maintenance and mineral benefit , and “among the certified young people, 81 women stand out and of these 38 are technical women in underground mining work. The only ones in the country ”, they highlighted.
On the side of the innovations that will bring to the mine, the company highlighted that the underground development to date is 35.7 kilometers, which is equivalent to four times the La Línea Tunnel; and that they will have a unique water processing system, in which the liquid will go through seven different processes, and the largest gold leaching plant in Colombia.
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Diego Mesa, indicated that “this gold mine in Buriticá, the first large-scale underground gold mine in the country, is part of eight large projects for the next three years, which have the potential to generate investments of more than $ 17 billion and create 12,000 direct jobs. . In addition, they represent an opportunity to promote the development of the country based on a legal and responsible activity with the environment and communities ”.
