Prodeco Coal Mine

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Prodeco Coal Mine (Mina Prodeco) is a mothballed coal mine in La Jagua de Ibírico, Cesar, Colombia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Prodeco Coal Mine	La Jagua de Ibírico, Cesar, Colombia	9.643868, -73.480045 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Mothballed	Care and Maintenance	2017	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
15	–	2019	Surface	Open Pit	–	60*	*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	–	405	–	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	Puerto Nuevo coal terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Prodeco Group	Glencore PLC [100.0%]	Switzerland

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

Prodeco coal mine is a coal mine near the La Jagua municipality in the Cesar Department of Colombia. The mine consists of two open pits, Mina Calenturitas and Mina La Jagua, which had their operations merged in 2017. In March 2020, mine operator Glencore halted operations and placed the mines on care and maintenance, citing the COVID 19 pandemic, declining coal prices, and local unrest. In February 2021 Glencore returned control of both mines to the Colombian government. The Prodeco mine consists of two open pits, Mina Calenturitas and Mina La Jagua, which had their operations merged in 2017. In 1989, Colombia's state-owned coal company Carbocol granted a concession to Prodeco to operate the mine. In 1995, Prodeco's Colombian coal assets were acquired by Glencore.

The Calenturitas and La Jagua mines are connected by railway to the Puerto Nuevo coal terminal on Colombia's Caribbean coast, where coal is exported to international markets.

• Operator: Prodeco Group
• Owner: Glencore
• Location: near El Paso, La Jagua de Ibirico and Becerril municipalities in the Cesar Department of Colombia
• GPS coordinates: 9.581323,-73.286097 (La Jagua); 9.643868, -73.480045 (Calenturitas)
• Mine status: Operating, Care and Maintenance (March 2020)
• Start year: 1989
• Mineable reserves: 135 million tonnes
• Coal type: Bituminous (Thermal and Metallurgic)
• Mine size:
• Mine type: Surface, open pit
• Production: 15.6 million tonnes per year (2019)
• Equipment:
• Number of employees: 2,500

Production

Table 1: Annual Coal Production Since 2010 - Prodeco Mine

Mtpa = million tonnes per annum

Year	Total Production (Mtpa)
2022	0
2021	0
2020	3.8
2019	15.6
2018	11.7
2017	14.6
2016	17.3
2015	17.6
2014	19.5
2013	18.6
2012	14.8
2011	14.6
2010	10.0

Suspension of Operations

In March 2020, Glencore halted operations and placed the mines on care and maintenance, citing the COVID 19 pandemic, declining coal prices, and local unrest. In July 2020, Glencore sought to prolong the suspension, requesting state approval from the mining regulators to delay a restart. As a result of the extended care and maintenance, Glencore's thermal coal output plunged 13% in 2020, from 132 to 114 million tonnes, accounting for the lack of production at the Prodeco coal mine. The suspension was originally sought for as long as 4 years, but later reduced to 18 months. In September 2020, the mining regulator ANM rejected Glencore's request to remain off line, but the company appealed. As of November 24, 2020, ANM had 30 days to make a final decision and had requested a "technical visit" to the mine.

In February 2021, Glencore announced that it would relinquish its contracts for the Calenturitas and La Jagua mines, returning control of both units to the Colombian government. Following the announcement, multiple Colombian civil society organizations expressed concern that Glencore might abandon the Prodeco mine without presenting a suitable closure plan and without addressing the social and environmental problems caused by its mining operations over the preceding three decades. In April 2021, Colombia's national mining agency ANM rejected Glencore's plan to return the mining concessions. However, in September 2021 ANM reversed its decision.

Glencore's 2022 Sustainability Report maintained that operations were ceased at the Prodeco coal mine. The company's annual report for the same year confirmed that the Prodeco mine had not generated any revenue in 2022.

Disputes over the Mines' Future and Prodeco's Responsibilities

As of September 2022, the Colombian government's plans for continued operation of the mines were unclear, and a host of issues surrounding the mines' closure remained unresolved, including compensation for the mines' environmental impact, job transition prospects for laid-off mine workers, and the government-ordered resettlement of citizens of El Hatillo, a community heavily impacted by coal pollution from the mines. The government had initially announced plans to award the mine contracts to new owners by the end of July, and pre-qualified six companies for bidding. However, they ultimately suspended the auction process.

On September 3, 2022, the Administrative Court of Valledupar ruled in favor of 14 local communities in a guardianship case filed against the Prodeco Group, and ordered Glencore and the National Agency for Environmental Licenses (ANLA) to meet with all impacted parties in order to define the company's environmental and social obligations in the context of an organized mine closure plan. Following the court's ruling, Colombia's Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, announced that the government was prepared to enforce the mine closure plan.

On November 3, 2022, Senator Didier Lobo Chinchilla convened a five-hour public hearing of Colombia's Fifth Senate Commission in La Jagua de Ibirico to discuss the future of the Prodeco mines, and the impact of the mine's closure on thousands of local residents. Attendees included Prodeco officials, residents of Cesar department's coal mining corridor, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad, and representatives from Colombia's mining and environmental permitting agencies. While the hearing did little to clarify the mines' uncertain future, government officials including Minister Muhamad and Senator Chinchilla signaled their support for new initiatives to revitalize the region's agricultural and small business economy and designate the Cesar mining corridor as a national "energy transition" pilot project.

On November 4, 2022, the Seventh Administrative Judge of the Valledupar Circuit ordered that Prodeco and the Colombian environmental licensing authority ANLA hold a series of three community meetings within the following month to discuss an updated closure plan for the mines and identify Prodeco's outstanding obligations. The three meetings were held on November 29 in El Paso, November 30 in Jagua de Ibirico and December 1 in Becerril. Prodeco subsequently asserted that it had complied with all of its obligations under the court order.

As of December 2022, Prodeco continued to argue that no mine closure plan was required, in light of the government's previous request that the mines be handed over in operating condition for assignment to a new concessionaire. At the same time, representatives of communities affected by the mines' closure have argued that Prodeco has held disproportionate control over the public hearings process, and have requested the Colombian government's intervention to guarantee the authority of environmental licensing agency ANLA to hold Prodeco accountable.

In late 2023, a Tribunal session via the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes was still pending for the mining concession dispute between Glencore and the Republic of Colombia.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.