Cerrejon coal mine
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Cerrejon coal mine or minera del Cerrejón is located near the village of Albania in the La Guajira department of Colombia. The mine is owned by the Cerrejon Coal Company, which in turn is equally owned by subsidiaries of BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Xstrata plc.[1] It is the largest coal mine in Latin America and the tenth biggest in the world.[2]
Contents
Location
The satellite photo below shows the location of the Cerrejon coal mine, in the southeast of the department of La Guajira, near the Colombian-Venezuela border. The coal mine is situated in the northeastern part of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, the basin of the Ranchería River, between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the west and the Serranía del Perijá to the southeast.
Background
The Cerrejon mine comprises four zones: the North Zone, the Central Zone, the Patilla area and the South Zone.[3]
BHP Billiton boasted on its website in 2011 that "Cerrejon's open-cut mines now represent one of the biggest earthmoving operations worldwide. Approximately one million tonnes of material are moved every day, 365 days per year. To achieve this, the operation runs one of the biggest fleets of shovels and trucks in the world. The company employs nearly 4,000 people, with approximately the same number engaged as contractors."[3]
Corporate history
On its website, Xstrata Coal states that "in December 1976, an Association Contract was signed between Carbocol S.A., a state owned coal company, and Intercor, an ExxonMobil affiliate, for the development of Cerrejón North Zone. In January 1999, an agreement with the Government of Colombia extended this phase an additional 25 years more, until 2034. In November 2000, the Colombian Government sold Carbocol S.A.’s (50%) participation in Cerrejón North Zone Association Contract, to a consortium made up of subsidiary companies of BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Glencore International AG. In February of 2002, the consortium acquired the remaining 50% from Intercor and merged Intercor with Carbones del Cerrejón S.A to create Carbones del Cerrejón LLC, Cerrejón."[4]
Production
Cerrejon has a resource base of about 5 billion tons, of which 2.1 billion tons are currently measured and indicated to be of export quality, according to the companies. Xstrata said it is one of the largest coal deposits in the world.[5]
Xstrata Coal states that the mine employs 8,400 people and has a "reserve base in excess of 900 million tonnes."[4]
In its 2014 Annual Report, BHP Billiton stated that total production in the 2013/2014 financial year was 36.9 million tonnes with the mining complex having a "a reserve life of 17 years."[6]
Cerrejon Coal Company stated that in 2009 56% of its production was exported to Europe, 17% to North America, 12% to Central and South America and 15% to "other destinations".[7] Since 1985, Cerrejon Coal Company has exported over 500 million tonnes.[8]
Coal from Cerrejon is marketed by CMC Coal Marketing Company, a company owned equally by BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Xstrata plc. CMC Coal Marketing Company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland but also established a subsidiary office in Atlanta in 2005.[9] [8]
In February 2011 BHP Billiton's website stated that coal from Cerrejon was "exported largely to Europe, but also to the USA and South America."[3]
Consortium proceeds with P40 expansion plan
Reserve life
As the global price of thermal coal has plummeted since 2011, the reserve life of the mine - even before the P40 expansion has been fully commissioned - has been substantially truncated. In its 2011 annual report BHP Billiton stated that the mine had a reserve life of 23 years.[10]
In each of its three subsequent annual reports the company has dropped the reserve life by two years.[11] [12]
As of its 2014 annual report, BHP Billiton stated that the reserve life of the mine was 17 years.[13] The company stated that the reason for the change between the 2013 and 2014 estimate was that "due to an increased nominated production rate from 40 Mtpa in FY2013 to 41.5 Mtpa in FY2014."[14]
In its 2014 annual report, BHP Billiton stated that Cerrejon had proved marketable coal reserves of 610 million tonnes with the coal having an ash content of 9.4%, 33.8% volatile matter, 0.6% sulfur. It states that the coal has an average energy content of 6180 kcal/kg.[14]
Project Details
- Owner: Cerrejon Coal Company[1]
- Parent company: BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Xstrata plc[1]
- Location: Albania, Barrancas and Hatonuevo in La Guajira, Colombia
- GPS coordinates: 11.033968,-72.662926
- Mine status:Operating[15]
- Start year: 1985[8]
- Mineable reserves: 900 million tonnes[4]
- Coal type: bituminous[16]
- Mine size: 270 sq mi
- Mine type: Surface
- Production: 36.9 million tonnes[6]
- Additional proposed production:
- Equipment: 493 pieces of equipment: 258 trucks with a load capacity of 190, 240, and 320 tonnes, 50 hydraulic shovels, and 185 pieces of auxiliary equipment.
- Number of employees: 8,400[4]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Susan Wacaster, "2012 The Mineral Industry of Colombia", U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, June 2014, page 7.
- ↑ Mining Technologies The 10 biggest coal mines in the world Analysis by Mining Technologies, Oct 20, 2013
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 BHP Billiton, "Cerrejon Coal Company", BHP Billiton website, archived page from February 11, 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Xstrata Coal, "Cerrejòn", Xstrata Coal website, accessed August 2010.
- ↑ Alex MacDonald, "U.K.-listed miners OK $1.3B Colombia coal plan", MarketWatch, August 18, 2011.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 BHP Billiton, "Annual Report 2014, BHP Billiton, September 2014, page 18.
- ↑ Cerrejon Coal Company, "Exports volume", Cerrejon Coal Company website, accessed June 2010.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "CMC Coal Marketing Company", CMC Coal Marketing Company website, accessed March 2015.
- ↑ Cerrjon Coal Coampany, "Marketing", Cerrjon Coal Company website, accessed June 2010.
- ↑ BHP Billiton, "BHP Billiton Annual Report 2011", September 21, 2011, page 37.
- ↑ BHP Billiton, "BHP Billiton Annual Report 2012", September 18, 2012, page 38.
- ↑ BHP Billiton, "BHP Billiton Annual Report 2013", September 25, 2013, page 37.
- ↑ BHP Billiton, "Annual Report 2014, BHP Billiton, September 2014, page 43.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 BHP Billiton, "Annual Report 2014, BHP Billiton, September 2014, page 124.
- ↑ Amardeep Dhillon Extinction Rebellion must decide if it is anti-capitalist – and this greenwashing mining company shows us why Independent Oct. 23, 2019
- ↑ Mining Technology Carbocol and Intercor Coal Mine Projects, accessed Nov 12, 2019
Related SourceWatch articles
External resources
- BHP Billiton, "Cerrejon Coal Company", BHP Billiton website, archived from February 2011.
External links
Video
- La Buena Vida, A Documentary about the Involuntary Resettlement of Indigenous Communities in Colombia affected by Cerrejón coal mine, 2015.
Articles & Reports
- John Harker, Saloman Kalmonovitz, Nick Killick and Elena Serrano, "Cerrejon Coal and Social Responsibility: An Independent Review of Impacts and Intent", February 2008. (This was a review commissioned by Cerrejon Coal).
- Oliver Balch, "Cerrejón mine in Colombia: can it address its human rights risks?", Guardian, July 25, 2013.
- Erica Jaffe Redner, "In the Name of Development: Moving Cerrejón Mountain, Its Coal, and Its People", ReVista, Winter 2014.
- Richard Solly, "Stop forced displacements by Cerrejon Coal in Colombia!", The Ecologist, December 3, 2014.
Wikipedia also has an article on Cerrejon coal mine (Cerrejon coal mine). This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].
