Bloomberg reported that BHP Billiton Plc, Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc’s Cerrejon coal mine said guerrillas have stepped up assaults as part of a campaign against energy and mining infrastructure in Colombia.

Mr Roberto Junguito CEO of Cerrejon coal mine in an interview in Cartagena said that Rebels attacked the mine or its railway four times this year, up from three incidents in all of 2011

He said “We’re asking the government to take measures to reduce it in the future to zero. There has been a change in strategy by the rebels.”

But according to Mr Junguito, who took over as CEO this year “Assaults haven’t affected production or exports from the mine complex spread over about 30 kilometers in northern Colombia, where the government has increased military presence in the past year. Production at the mine will rise to 33.3 million tonnes this year, about 32 million tonnes of which will be exported. The remaining 1.3 million tonnes will be added to inventories.”

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on August 8 used explosives to damage a railway that carries coal from Cerrejon to port, after entering the mine to blast equipment last weekend.

Source - Bloomberg

(www.coalguru.com)