Colombia will start taking affords in its first bidding spherical for gold and copper exploration contracts earlier than the top of March, the federal government mentioned this week, as a part of ongoing efforts to diversify the nation’s mineral output.
The South American nation has been planning the tender for a 12 months and is able to pre-launch the primary bidding spherical for gold areas on February 24, mines and power minister Diego Mesa mentioned at an industry gathering this week.
The pre-qualification course of goals to permit corporations to correctly put together their proposals, Mesa mentioned. It doesn’t oblige them to take part and permits them to bid in future rounds, he mentioned.
The authority added that there was not a set date for the coal spherical but, however it could occur “earlier than the change of presidency” in August.
Colombia’s essential export product after oil is coal, however the nation has spent the previous decade attempting to change into a significant participant within the world mining market. It sits on the northern finish of the Pacific copper belt, which begins in Panama and ends in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metallic.
The federal government opened 5 copper areas for bids in early 2021. One exploration and one manufacturing copper contract had been awarded to native miner Carbomas SAS in September on a 30-year contract.
The lands are positioned inside the Caribbean coastal departments of Cesar and La Guajira, which maintain Colombia’s largest coal reserves, producing greater than 90% of nation’s whole coal output.
The nation at present produces solely round 10,000 tonnes of copper a 12 months from only one mine — Canada’s Atico Mining‘s (TSXV: ATY) El Roble mine, within the Choco division.
The nation has granted a number of gold and copper exploration licences, however large-scale mining initiatives face important regulatory and safety hurdles.
AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU; JSE: ANG) mentioned in October its Quebradona copper project will be delayed by the shelving of an environmental allow course of.
In the meantime, China’s Zijin Mining has mentioned manufacturing at its Buritica mission – acquired in 2019 for $1 billion – is being significantly affected by the presence of unlawful miners.
Dozens different initiatives await environmental permits whereas authorities mull launching a young to award 5 areas containing phosphate, utilized in fertilizers.
Mining at present contributes about 2% of Colombia’s GDP.