Anglo American , Xstrata and BHP Billiton have approved a $1.3 billion expansion of Colombia’s largest coal mining operations, Cerrejon, the companies said on Thursday.
Cerrejon is the largest coal producer and exporter in Colombia, the world’s No. 4 exporter of the material, and its expansion plans are key for the Andean country as it hopes to double coal output in the coming years.
See http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/08/18/uk-angloamerican-brief-idUKTRE77H4ID20110818.
A company spokesperson assured critics at a meeting in London in April that the expansion would not go ahead if communities opposed it. An alliance of communities and workers does oppose it. But it is going ahead anyway.
See also http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/xstrata-says-cerrejon-expansion-project-approved-by-shareholders.html, which also mentions Glencore’s expansion plans in Colombia.