Colombian authorities announced
that the FARC on Sunday again attacked Colombia’s oil infrastructure. This time
the bombing took place in Palmera, located in the Norte de Santander
department. Though the bombing did not result in any casualties, it destroyed
an oil storage facility.
Hopefully, once the unilateral ceasefire declared by the
FARC goes into affect in the next week, these attacks on Colombia’s oil
infrastructure will finally come to an end. In addition to jeopardizing the
fragile negotiations going on in Havana, these attacks have also dealt a severe
blow to a Colombian oil industry undergoing one of its worst crises of the last
20 years.
In other oil-related news, international oil prices finally
started to stabilize
on Tuesday thanks to a decline in the US dollar. Oil prices had fallen 10% in
July due to the Iranian nuclear agreement and concerns over economic trouble in
China and the EU.
In mining-related news, Colombian daily El Espectador profiled
a new Canadian mining project in the country in the area of Santa Rosa de Osos,
in the northern part of the Antioquia department. The development of this project
is the closest Colombia has to an example of a truly participatory process in
which the local community determined the conditions under which mining could
occur in their area. Construction on the mine will start in August, with future
gold production projected at 50,000 ounces per year.
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