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About Colombia

Colombia is located in northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering Ecuador, Peru and Brazil to the south. Colombia is the world's 30th most populous country with a population of over 45 million people. In 2007, the Colombian economy experienced real GDP growth of 7.3% and its national economy was the 5th largest in Latin America and 34th largest in the world with a GDP (PPP) of over US$327.7 Billion. The GDP composition by sector is: 11.5% agriculture; 36% industry; and 52.5% services.

The republic country has dramatically stabilized over the last few years and has experienced a large decline in the violence that has plagued it for a large part of the 20th century. The government of current president Alvaro Uribe was first elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. Under his leadership, the government has succeeded in restoring control over the vast majority of the country and greatly reduced the activities of guerrilla rebel and para-military groups. Inflows of foreign investment have been increasing rapidly for the last 5 years as the government has maintained a secure and conducive business environment to encourage foreign investment, especially in the mining sector, which is the largest component and has experienced the largest growth.

MINERAL RESOURCE SECTOR

Colombia is a country rich in natural resources. It is presently the 5th largest coal exporting country, accounting for about 1.1% of the world's total annual coal production, and the largest producer in Latin America (71.7 million tons in 2007). Colombia is also a significant producer of gold, silver, platinum and a world leader in emerald production. The country is the 5th largest gold producer in South America and 21st largest in the world.



The province of Antioquia has a long history of gold production and is the largest gold producing province within Colombia. During the 17th century, Antioquia produced more than 40% of the gold in the world. For the past 50 years, miners in the northeast of Antioquia have produced more than 17 million ounces of gold. In 2005, gold production in Colombia reached 1,115,000 ounces and Antioquia was responsible for more than 60% of the country's production.

Mineral Industry in Colombia

A summary of recent Colombian mineral production is presented in Table 4-3. The data source is the United States Geological Survey 2007 Minerals Yearbook for Colombia (Torres, 2007). Data for 2008 is an advance release and may be incomplete.

e: estimated, estimated data are rounded to no more than three significant digits r: revised
do: ditto
ct: carat
NA: not available
--: zero
1: Table includes data available through November 30, 2009
2: Excludes white portland cement
3: Reported figure
4: Based on Colombian Institute of Geology and Mines (INGEOMINAS) production reports as determined by payments of royalties and economic considerations prior to export
5: P2O5 content assumes 30% ore content, although some companies process phosphate rock with different P2O5 content
6: not elsewhere specified
7: rows that formerly contained data for natural gas, marketed and liquefied petroleum gas have been removed from this table because available information is inadequate to make reliable estimates of output.

A variety of attempts have been made to estimate historic Northern Andean gold production. Emmons (1937) estimated post-conquest Colombian production at over 48 million oz of gold, or, approaching 40% of the historic production of all of South America at that time. Records available through the Colombian Banco de La Republica document production of an additional 40 million oz between 1940 and 2009 (SIMCO, 2010A), thus a total estimate approaching 90 million oz is observed.

Colombian gold production has averaged ca. 580,000 oz per annum since 1940 and ca. 880,000 oz per annum since 1980. Since the 1980s, per annum production had varied considerably with fluctuations in gold price; however, production reached 1.53 million oz in 2009 and is forecast to reach 3 million oz in 2012 (Figure 4-4; SIMCO, 2010a).


Figure 4-4: Total Colombian gold production per annum (SIMCO, 2010A).


Currently, the majority of gold produced in Colombia is sourced from alluvial operations in Antioquia and Chocó (Table 4-4). In 2010, the hard rock and alluvial operations in Bolívar accounted for 7.2% of reported Colombian gold production (SIMCO, 2010b).