Colombia’s coal production fell 28% in the first quarter of 2021 versus the year-earlier period, the national mining agency (ANM) said on Wednesday, due to changing coal prices and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the three months to March 31 Colombia produced 13.9 million tonnes, down from 19.4 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2020.
However, compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, Colombia’s coal sector showed signs of recovery, with output up 52% from 9 million tonnes produced in the three months ended Dec. 31, the ANM said in a statement.
“The recovery of coal, Colombia’s main income-generating mineral for the sector, is due to reactivation of production in the north of the country,” ANM President Juan Miguel Duran said in the statement.
The production figures come just two days after Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore Plc GLEN.L said it will buy out its partners Anglo American Plc AAL.L and BHP BHP.AX at Colombia’s Cerrejon coal mine.
Gold production in the first quarter of the year rose close to 23% to 11.7 tonnes, from 9.53 tonnes in the first quarter of 2020. Compared with the final quarter of last year, first-quarter gold production dropped 16% from 13.9 tonnes.
Nickel output fell sharply on year in the first quarter, declining 32% from 22.7 million pounds in the first quarter of 2020 to 15.4 million pounds in the three months ended March 31.
A spokesman for Colombia’s ministry of mines and energy said the fall was also due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, first-quarter nickel output rose 14% from 13.5 million pounds, the ANM said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Oliver Griffin; editing by Jonathan Oatis)