“Colombia wants to enter the world copper market”, 24^th July 2019

…Colombia will seek in the coming years to enter the world copper market without neglecting its coal and gold production, as part of a plan to diversify its mining matrix making it more efficient and profitable…The South American country has so far focused its mining activity on coal and gold…"We have the potential, but we are an unexplored country in terms of copper, we are located in a favorable geological environment, the Andes Mountains, we share that copper belt that neighboring countries have and are more advanced in copper," president of the National Mining Agency Silvana Habib told Reuters on Thursday…There are currently three exploration projects. One in Córdoba by Cordoba Minerals, another in Antioquia from AngloGold Ashanti and one more in Chocó from the company Minera Cobre, of which First Quantum Minerals is a part…Habib said that a ruling by a high court whereby popular referendums in the communities cannot ban projects involving mining and hydrocarbon extraction gave investors more legal certainty. The official also said that the dialogues of the communities with the companies about the projects, added to the speeding up of the licensing procedures and the transparency in the processes of awarding titles, have been well received by the investors…