According to company and industry sources, Drummond is expanding its production capacity to 12 million tons per year by 2000. Several of these firms are delaying their operations until the transportation tariff drops to one dollar per ton. Producers estimate that if reasonable tariffs are negotiated, coal production from the various Cesar operations could increase from the current 3.5 million tons to 10 million in 10 years. In November 1997, the government reviewed a feasibility study for the Puerto Zuniga integrated coal port and asked the Ministry of the Environment to develop an environmental impact assessment. As a key objective of the Government's National Development Plan, Vice Minister of Mines, Ms. Luisa Fernanda Lafaurie, expects to develop a more efficient mining policy that will attract private investors to mining projects and generate more employment and increased exports.
Coal plays a critical role in Colombia's economy.
Currently, the share of coal within the national mining sector reached 36 percent, and the sector's share in the economy grew from 1.5 percent in 1980 to 4.4 percent in 1992. About 65 percent of the Colombian mining market is controlled by U.S. equipment and service providers. The prospects for U.S. mining equipment exporters are good due to a less expensive U.S. dollar compared to European competitors' currencies, the availability of low-cost financing, excellent U.S. products, and lower transportation costs from the U.S. to Colombia. TradePort is an authorized distributor of STAT-USA data.