La Francia Coal Mine

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La Francia Coal Mine (Mina La Francia) is an operating coal mine in El Paso, Cesar, Colombia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
La Francia Coal Mine	El Paso, Cesar, Colombia	9.652258, -73.534805 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	1.08	2022	Surface	Open Pit	–	50*	457

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	–	–	–	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Colombia Natural Resources	Patria Energética	Colombia

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Background

[español]

The La Francia Mine is a thermal coal mine owned and operated by Colombian Natural Resources (CNR) in El Paso, Cesar, Colombia. The mine previously produced more than 4 million tonnes per annum, but as of August 2020, has suspended operations indefinitely. The La Francia mine is owned by CNR (Colombian Natural Resources), a subsidiary of Murray Energy. Murray Energy purchased the mine in 2015 from Goldman Sachs, who in turn had acquired it from Coalcorp in 2010. In selling its Colombian coal mining assets, Goldman Sachs cited "operational issues," which various news sources reported to include labor disputes, protests, legal challenges and more restrictive environmental regulations that had forced repeated shutdowns at the mine in recent years. Goldman reportedly sold the mine for less than $10 million despite having paid $151 million for it five years prior.

In 2019 CNR produced 4.1 million tons of thermal coal, or roughly 2% of Colombia's national production for the year. However, in July 2020 CNR suspended operations at both the La Francia mine and its El Hatillo mine due to low coal prices, declining demand, narrow margins and disruptions caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. As of August 2020, the owners reportedly hoped to resume operations in January 2021.

In August 2021 the La Francia mine was sold to the Colombian investment group Key Industries, which was subsequently rebranded as Patria Energética. Commercial operations at the mine resumed under the new ownership in September 2021. As of November 2022, the La Francia and El Hatillo mines were reported to be jointly producing more than 180,000 tonnes of coal per month.

• Sponsor: CNR (Colombian Natural Resources)
• Parent Company: Patria Energética
• Location: El Paso, Cesar, Colombia
• GPS Coordinates: 9.652258, -73.534805 (exact)
• Status: Operating
• Production Capacity: 1.08 million tonnes per annum (estimate based on joint production of 180,000 tonnes per month for La Francia and El Hatillo mines combined)
• Total Resource:
• Mineable Reserves:
• Coal type:
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Surface (open pit)
• Start Year:
• Source of Financing:

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.