On Friday, the Colombian authorities briefed
the press about a successful raid carried out against illegal mining operations
in the port town of Buenaventura, located on the Colombian Pacific Coast. The
raids focused
on the neighborhoods of Córdoba and Zaragoza, and resulted in the arrests of
five people and the destruction of eight excavators.
Colombian Minister of Defense Luis Carlos Villegas told El
Tiempo that, “A very important operation was carried out that will have an
impact on the business of illegal mining of almost 3.5 billion Colombian pesos.
Eight yellow ore extractors were destroyed and five people were caught
red-handed.” Minister Villegas flew to the area of the raids, and added that
these are just a few of numerous operations being carried out by the Colombian
armed forces against illegal miners.
In oil-related news, El
Espectador reported on the financial difficulties confronting Canadian oil
company Pacific Exploration Production Corp. The oil company has debt payments
of $1.3 billion due at the end of the year, but it does not have the cash on
hand to meet these payment obligations, and so Pacific is desperate to renegotiate
the terms of its debt. Oil industry observers are convinced that Pacific’s
creditors are willing to negotiate, but it remains to be seen what terms they
will demand.
In other mining-related news, Colombian coal production has increased
slightly so far in 2015 as compared to the previous year. Despite lower coal
prices, production increased 2.5% to a total 65.6 million tons for the first
nine months of the year. The Colombian coal sector has also had to combat the
problems of transportation restrictions and general financial instability.
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