Industria Minera En Colombia

The Mineral Industry of Colombia
By Susan Wacaster

In 2009, Colombia was estimated to be the world’s sixth ranked nickel producer and had nickel reserves of 1.7 million metric tons (Mt) of nickel in ore. The country was also a regionally significant coal producer and, at yearend, had 6.8 billion metric tons of proven coal reserves, which represented 0.8% of the world total, and were thesecond largest proven reserves of coal in Latin America after Brazil. Although Colombia was not a globally significant producer of natural gas or petroleum, those commodities were produced in more than one-half of Colombia’s 33 Departments, and the hydrocarbon industry was important to the country’s economy. Yearend proven reserves of natural gas and petroleum were 120 billion cubic meters and 1.7billion barrels, respectively (BP p.l.c., 2010; Kuck, 2010).

Minerals in the National Economy

Colombia’s gross domestic product (GDP) (reported as the nominal GDP at current prices unless otherwise stated) maintained a positive growth rate of about 4% during the international economic downturn in 2008-09. In 2009, the coal, metallic, and nonmetallic mineral industries combined accounted for4.5% of Colombia’s GDP compared with 4.2% in 2008. The growth in the GDP was attributed to a 13.4% increase in the aggregate value of crude petroleum, natural gas, thorium, and uranium production, and a 17.6% increase in the value of metallic minerals produced, which correlated with a significant increase in gold production (Banco de la República de Colombia, 2010).
With respect to the increasedvalue and production of gold, it was not possible to identify all the entities that were producing gold in Colombia, nor to quantify the contribution of informal mining to the total reported gold production, and those companies for which production data were available are estimated to represent less than 20% of all reported gold in 2009. In its March 2010 GDP report for the fourth quarter of 2009,the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica [National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE)] identified a 17.6% increase in the value of gold production for 2009 based upon the then-known totals of production. Data later released by the Sistema de Informacion Minero Colombiano [Colombian Mining Information System (SIMCO)] provide updated and revised gold production numbers for2008 and 2009 that indicate a 39% increase in gold production. The Government’s estimate of a 17.6% increase in the value of gold production and sales as they contributed to the GDP in 2009, therefore, was assumed to be lower than the actual contribution, but a precise value was not available (Departmento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica, 2010, p. 16).
A 24% increase in ferronickelproduction and an 18% increase in silver production also contributed to the value added to the GDP from metallic minerals. In 2009, there was a reported 8.8% increase in the value of nonmetallic minerals that was attributed to a 26.1% increase in the production of rocks and materials used in the construction industry, although the exact materials that were being referred to was unclear, and productiondata for construction materials were not available in many cases (Departmento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica, 2010, p. 16).
Yearend totals for the contribution of the hydrocarbon industries to the GDP in 2009 were not available from the Central Bank of Colombia. Data for both fuel and nonfuel commodities were available for the first two quarters of that year, however, and indicate thatthe value contributed to the GDP by mining (including hydrocarbons) decreased by 10% to $8.5 billion during that period. For the same period of time, the value contributed to the GDP by mining (not including hydrocarbons) increased by 35% to $3.6 billion. Coal products contributed $2.1 billion to the GDP in the first two quarters of 2009, which was an increase of 61% compared with the first two...