Despite grave problems of air and water pollution at its current Colombian mine, Drummond Coal will soon begin construction of a new 100,000-acre (40,000-ha) coal mine in northeastern Colombia which company officials say will be the biggest open-pit mine in the world. The new US$1.5 billion El Descanso Norte mine is expected to boost Drummond’s annual exports of mined thermal coal from an average of 70 million tons to 100 million tons, increasing Colombia’s gross domestic product by as much as 4%. That would propel Colombia to the third spot among world coal exporters, ahead of Russia and behind Australia and Indonesia. “We will [soon] be exporting $10 billion annually in coal [from Colombia],” says Augusto Jiménez, the president of Colombia... [Log in to read more]
