“FACTBOX-Gold miners’ rocky road in Colombia”, 20th June 2019

…Canada’s Continental Gold is on track to open a mine in Colombia in 2020 that will be the country’s first large-scale underground gold project in years. Other multinational mining companies looking to kick off similar projects in Colombia have struggled amid legal, financial and licensing troubles and environmental and community objections…AngloGold Ashanti Ltd was forced to abandon its $2 billion La Colosa mine after a 2017 community vote banned mineral extraction. The vote came amid a wave of environmentally focused anti-mining referendums that spooked investors. The constitutional court later ruled referendums cannot halt energy projects because the country’s subsoil is national property. Earlier this year the company was forced by a local mayor in Antioquia province to halt a soil study at its Quebradona copper exploration, before a provincial environmental authority ruled work could continue…Canada’s Eco Oro Minerals Corp sued the Colombian government after its Angostura project in Santander province was cut in half by a 2014 constitutional court ruling that expanded wetland protections. The company is suing for $764 million in damages in ongoing arbitration…Minesa, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi through its investment arm Mubadala Investment Corp, is waiting for environmental licenses for the $1 billion Soto Norte project in Santander province…