On Wednesday, Colombian business journal Portafolio
published an article exploring the effect that falling gold prices have had on
the Colombian mining industry. Gold prices have fallen to their lowest levels
since February 2010, and analysts predict that prices could fall all the way to
$1,000 per ounce.
Portafolio explained that while the shift in prices has
affected the profit margins of large mining companies, it has hit small miners
especially hard. These small miners have much slimmer profit margins than the
large companies, so any shift in prices can immediately affect the viability of
their mining operations. Nonetheless, some of the collapse in prices has been
made up for by the shift in value of the Colombian peso against the U.S.
dollar.
In related news, Contagioradio
reported on five recently-released documentaries that explore issues related to
the mining industry in Colombia. French journalist Remeo Langlois made “For all
the gold in Colombia,” a movie about illegal mining and the multinational
mining company Gran Colombia Gold.
In oil-related news, the Colombian statistics institute DANE
announced
that Colombia’s 12-month rolling trade deficit had grown from 3.5% of GDP in
May to 3.1% of GDP. The report noted that the main driver of this imbalance was
the declining value of the oil exported by Colombia, which fell 29.3%. Analysts
worry that the deficit could grow to 5.8% of GDP if oil prices do not recover
soon.
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