Argos to pull out of coal mining

Colombia’s leading cement producer, Grupo Argos, is to withdraw from coal mining as part of a strategic realignment of its core business, La República reported.

Argos subsidiary Cementos del Caribe and its affiliate CI Carbones del Caribe, the third-largest Colombian mining company, have offered to sell the La Jagua coal mine and the Cerro Largo deposit in the northeast of the country.  The La Jagua and Cerro Largo deposits have reserves of 130Mt, according to Argos. Argos is owned by conglomerate Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño (GEA). The La Jagua mine has been in operation since the mid 1980s and produced 2.3Mt of coal in 2002. A US$55mn investment program was announced in 2003 to increase extraction to 4.5Mt/y and build a marine export terminal.