Paso Diablo Coal Mine

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Paso Diablo Coal Mine (Mina Paso Diablo) is an operating coal mine in Paso Diablo, Zulia, Venezuela.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Paso Diablo Coal Mine	Paso Diablo, Zulia, Venezuela	11.039603, -72.268181 (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
Operating	–	1987	–

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
8	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	–	60*	1961*

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
175	–	–	Guasare	Bituminous	Met	Santa Cruz de Mara export terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Carbones del Guasare (CDG)	Carbones del Guasare (CDG) [100%]	Venezuela

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

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

The Paso Diablo Mine is a coal mine with a rated production capacity of 8 million tonnes a year, located near Paso Diablo in Zulia State, in the Guasare coal basin. The Paso Diablo mine holds Venezuela's most significant coal deposits, encompassing nearly 1.4 billion tonnes of estimated resources as of 2015. The mine is located in Venezuela's Zulia region, whose coal is prized for its low sulfur and ash content and high calorific value. The mine produces both thermal and coking coal.

• Operator: Carbones del Zulia SA (Carbozulia)
• Owner: PDVSA - Government of Venezuela
• Location: Paso Diablo, Zulia, Venezuela
• GPS coordinates: 11.039603,-72.268181
• Mine status: Operating
• Start year: 1987
• Mineable reserves: 1.4 billion tonnes
• Coal type: Bituminous (Thermal and Metallurgic)
• Mine size:
• Mine type: Surface, open pit
• Capacity: 8 Mtpa (million tonnes per annum)
• Production: N/A
• Equipment:
• Number of employees:

Ownership

The Paso Diablo mine was originally owned and operated by Carbones del Guasare (CDG), a joint venture between the Venezuelan government and international investors. In 2004, Peabody Energy acquired a 25.5% stake in CDG, previously held by the Australian company RAG Coal International. Following the acquisition, Peabody Energy and Anglo American each held a 25.5% share of the Paso Diablo mine, while state-owned Carbones del Zulia SA (Carbozulia) controlled the remaining 49%.

In 2010 Peabody Energy bought the 25.5% stake held by Anglo Coal and transferred 2% to Carbozulia, leaving the Venezuelan government with a 51.63% interest in the joint venture and Peabody Energy with the remaining 48.37%.

In late 2013, Venezuela's Minister of Energy refused to renew the mining concession previously granted to Carbones del Guasare, effectively transferring ownership of the Paso Diablo mine to the Venezuelan state.

In 2018, the Venezuelan government declared coal a strategic mineral and authorized Venezuela’s state-owned coal company Carbozulia to form a joint venture known as Carboturven (Carbones Turquía-Venezuela) with the Turkish company Glenmore Proje Insaat, a subsidiary of the British-owned Glenmore Solutions Limited; Carboturven was granted a 20-year license to mine coal in the western state of Zulia, where the Paso Diablo mine is located. According to Reuters, "One person familiar with the Paso Diablo mine’s operations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said production had improved since the joint venture was formed."

Production

The Paso Diablo mine, together with its companion Norte mine, has been estimated by the US Geological Survey to have a production capacity of 8.3 million tpa (tonnes per annum). In 2004, when Peabody Energy acquired its initial stake in Paso Diablo, the mine was said to be producing 7 to 7.5 million tonnes of coal per year for electricity generators and steel producers. In 2008, the last year for which reliable production figures are available, Peabody Energy reported that the mine produced approximately 4.8 million tonnes of steam coal for export to the United States and Europe. In 2009, Peabody reported deteriorating operating results for the mine, noting that the company anticipated ongoing operating and cash flow issues going forward.

Accurate coal production figures for Paso Diablo have been hard to obtain since the mine was fully nationalized in 2013; however, recent national statistics make it clear that the mine's production has dropped off sharply. While Venezuela’s coal production increased from less than 100,000 tonnes in 1988 to 8 million tonnes in the mid-2000s - making it Latin America’s third-largest coal producer behind Colombia and Brazil - national output had dropped to somewhere between 170,000 and 500,000 tonnes by 2017. In 2018, Venezuelan national coal production hit a new low point - with estimates ranging from less than 100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes. Despite a slight rebound in 2019 and 2020, national coal production has averaged well under 1 million tonnes for the past decade, making it clear that Paso Diablo mine has continued to operate far short of its stated capacity.

Mining Operations

As of 2009, Peabody Energy, original co-owner of the Paso Diablo Mine, described the mine on its website as follows: "a 6.6 to 8.0 million ton-per-year surface operation that exports coal for electricity generators and steelmakers in North America and Europe. Paso Diablo utilizes the truck-shovel method to access approximately 175 million tonnes of reserves (in the current coal concession) in the Guasare coal basin ... Most coal travels approximately 90 kilometers to the port at Santa Cruz de Mara on Lake Maracaibo ... Peabody markets a proportional amount of the mine's output to customers of seaborne coal seeking high-Btu, low sulfur thermal coal for electricity generation and PCI coal for use in steel production."

Coal is trucked approximately 85 kilometres to an export barge loading terminal at Santa Cruz del Mara export terminal, which is owned by CDG. In a profile on mining in Venezuela, the Consulate General of Denmark states that "a floating storage and transfer station, the Bulk Wayuu, is permanently anchored in Lake Maracaibo to provide additional storage capacity and to perform an efficient ship loading operation. Coal is reclaimed from barges on to Bulk Wayuu and subsequently loaded, via a series of conveyors and discharge systems, into ocean-going vessels docked alongside this facility."

In its 2008 annual report Peabody Energy reported that "the Paso Diablo Mine contributed $5.7 million to segment Adjusted EBITDA in Corporate and Other Adjusted EBITDA and paid a dividend of $19.9 million. At December 31, 2008, our investment in Paso Diablo was $54.2 million." Later in the report, the company explained that the reduced profit from its Venezuela interest was primarily caused by "trucking issues experienced earlier in the year, a temporary shortage of explosives and delays in receiving equipment, which impacted operations."

In its 2010 annual report Peabody stated that lower than expected financial performance originated from "lower productivity, higher operating costs and ongoing labor issues; in addition, we recognized a $34.7 million impairment loss on this investment."

Social & Environmental Impact

Indigenous groups living in the vicinity of the Paso Diablo mine, including the Yukpa, Wayúu, Barí and Japreria, have joined together with environmentalists and other civil society organizations to protest the displacement of local communities, degradation of air and water quality, and negative impacts on human health, biodiversity and climate associated with contamination from the mine.

Articles and Resources

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.