Reports such as that of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, at the University of Manchester, have indicated that to meet global climate goals, countries like Colombia must stop producing fossil fuels by 2050.
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The National Mining Agency (ANM) announced in the last few hours that it filed several lawsuits against the mining company Prodeco, of the multinational Glencore, due to differences that arose in the liquidation processes that this company is carrying out in the country regarding its coal exploitation in The cesar.
It must be remembered that in 2021 Prodeco renounced five mining titles it has in the country, however, the ANM only accepted the termination of three of these, which were liquidated during the year 2023.
In these settlements “differences arose related to assets subject to reversion and the state of the mines, among others,” says the Colombian authority. “Once the settlement of the contracts and the definition of the assets that the ANM must revert free of charge to the Nation have been completed, we found differences regarding the assets being reverted and the state of one of the mines in the La Jagua complex, so that “We are going to ordinary justice to defend the interest of the Nation and demand full compliance with the contractual obligations of the Prodeco company,” said the president of the ANM, Álvaro Pardo.
The lawsuits were filed before the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca and specifically refer to contracts No. 044 of 1989 and No. 285 of 1995, whose owners were the companies CI Prodeco SA and Carbones de la Jagua SA, respectively. These contracts pertained to the exploitation of open-pit thermal coal from large-scale mining in the municipalities of Becerril, La Jagua de Ibirico and El Paso, in the department of Cesar. (Can see: The largest fish in the world passes through Colombia)
“The Agency estimates the amount of the claim at more than $200,000 million pesos, for the non-full reversion of the assets that were used for the exploitation of the Calenturitas mine (contract No. 044 of 1989) and for the non-preservation and conservation of the mining title, due to the floods that occurred in the La Jagua mine (contract No. 285 of 1995),” details the ANM in a public statement.
Although reports such as that of the Tyndall Center for Research on Climate changefrom the University of Manchester, have pointed out that to meet the goals climatic Globally, countries like Colombia must stop producing fossil fuels by 2050, Prodeco’s renunciation of its mining titles has raised doubts about the legal figures and compliance with the obligations in that withdrawal.
Some experts fear that the rules of the game for how to do it responsibly are unclear. They are concerned that, once the contracts between the State and the company are settled, Prodeco will not comply with several obligations it has. For example, offsetting environmental liabilities and ensuring stability for those who worked in these mines. (Can see: Early heat wave breaks temperature records)
