COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA

New Centre for the Study of Coal and Large-scale Mining

Bogotá

17th July 2007

Senator Jorge Robledo, other politicians, trade union leaders and community leaders (including Jose Julio Perez, President of the Relocation Committee from the village of Tabaco, forcibly displaced to make way for the Cerrejon Coal mine now owned jointly by Anglo American, BHPBilliton and Xstrata) have established a Centre for the Study of Coal and Large-scale Mining.

The Centre was launched in Valledupar, Cesar, in northern Colombia on 16 July 2007. Senator Robledo explained that the Centre's purpose is to examine the contractual arrangements between the Colombian State and multinational companies involved in the exploitation of coal, gold, nickel and hydrocarbons, the level of royalties paid to national and provincial governments, and the labour and environmental conditions in the coal mining provinces of Cesar, neighbouring La Guajira, and in other areas. The Centre will uphold the interests of small and medium scale miners. It will carry out studies, hold seminars and produce publications to inform the Colombian public. It will propose policies to reimpose national sovereignty over subsoil resources.