Colombia Cerrejon Produced 15M-16M Tons Of Coal In 1H 2010

24th Jun 2010 01:25

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Dow Jones)--Cerrejon LLC, Colombia's largest coal mine, produced between 15 million and 16 million tons in the first half of 2010, the company's top official said Wednesday. Out of the company's total output for the period, five million tons of coal were shipped to Asia, Leon Teicher, Cerrejon's chief executive, told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference held in the Caribbean city of Cartagena. Teicher said the mine's total annual capacity is about 32 million tons of coal and it is in a good position to approach that output this year. In April, Teicher said he expects the mine will book between $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion in sales, which is pretty similar to last year's revenues. The mine sells a large part of its output in future contracts but keeps a part for the spot market. Teicher said most of what was planned to be sold on the future market had been sold. Cerrejon exports all its output through its port located in northern Colombia. Colombia is Latin America's largest coal producer and the world's tenth largest. Coal producers exported 69 million tons in 2009, according to the country's statistics department. Colombian Mining Minister Hernan Martinez Tuesday said the country's coal exports may reach 80 million tons this year. London-listed Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN), Anglo American PLC (AAUKY, AAL.LN) and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP, BHP.AU) each own 33.3% of Cerrejon. The mine has several projects to expand its capacity, but shareholders haven't approved them, Teicher said. Coal is Colombia's second-largest export, behind oil and processed oil products. Coal sales abroad brought in $5.42 billion in 2009. -By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-310 867 65 42; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 23, 2010 20:25 ET (00:25 GMT)