page_title: Cesar-Ranchería Basin
section_title: Mining
hierarchical_section_title: Cesar-Ranchería Basin / Economic geology / Mining
caption_attribution_description: Coal mine, El Cerrejón
context_page_description: The Cesar-Ranchería Basin is a sedimentary basin in northeastern Colombia. It is located in the southern part of the department of La Guajira and northeastern portion of Cesar. The basin is bound by the Oca Fault in the northeast and the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault in the west. The mountain ranges Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá enclose the narrow triangular intermontane basin, that covers an area of 11,668 square kilometres. The Cesar and Ranchería Rivers flow through the basin, bearing their names.
  The basin is of importance for hosting the worldwide tenth biggest and largest coal mine of Latin America, Cerrejón. The coals are mined from the Paleocene Cerrejón Formation, that also has provided several important paleontological finds, among others Titanoboa cerrejonensis, with an estimated length of 14 metres and a weight of 1,135 kilograms, the biggest snake discovered to date, the giant crocodylians Cerrejonisuchus improcerus, Anthracosuchus balrogus and Acherontisuchus guajiraensis, and the large turtles Carbonemys cofrinii, Puentemys mushaisaensis and Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki.
context_section_description: Coal mining in the Cesar-Ranchería Basin is concentrated in the northeast, with Cerrejón spanning the municipalities Albania, Barrancas and Hatonuevo, and in the southwest, with La Francia in the municipalities Becerril and El Paso. At Cerrejón, the coal is excavated from the Cerrejón Formation and in La Francia from the time-equivalent Los Cuervos Formation. Coal is also mined in Agustín Codazzi, Chiriguaná and La Jagua de Ibirico. The total coal production of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin in 2016 was nearly 81 Megatons. Minor gold mining was active in Valledupar in 2008.
  A study published in 2015 on the La Quinta Formation, shows the presence of 1.45% of copper, present mainly in malachite mineralisations in the volcanoclastic beds of the formation.
caption: Mining in Cerrejón
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