Papayal Coal Mine

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Papayal Coal Mine (Mina Papayal) is a cancelled coal mine in Papayal, La Guajira, Colombia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Papayal Coal Mine	Papayal, La Guajira, Colombia	10.99646, -72.7765 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Cancelled	Permitted	New	–	–

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
0.85	–	–	Underground	–	–	60.0*	190.0

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
11.0	2022	28.0	–	Bituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Yildirim Holding AŞ	Yildirim Holding AŞ [100.0%]	Turkey

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

Papayal Mine is a cancelled coal mine proposal near Papayal in the Barrancas region, which is part of Colombia's La Guajira department. The Papayal coal mine was initially proposed by MPX Colombia, a subsidiary of MPX Energia SA, which in turn was a subsidiary of the diversified EBX Group. MPX Colombia stated that the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) and the Engineering and Operating Plan were being prepared "and are expected to be filed by" quarter one of 2011. The initial business plan called for 3 open-cast mines, Papayal, Cañaverales, and San Benito as well as an underground mine in San Juan. A third-party surveyor identified 144 million tons of reserves and resources with potential for open-cast mining in the proposed areas.

However, financial downturns of former owner and Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista created problems for the project. In Sept. 2016 the Turkish company Yıldırım Group purchased the CCX coal mine project from the Brazilian EBX group, and rebranded it under the new company name "Best Coal Company" (BCC).

According to Yildirim's 2016 annual report, BCC drilled a total of 114,000 meters between Papayal, Cañaverales and San Juan in 2016 for "mineral research, exploration, and geotechnical studies." Analysts said in 2018 that they expected Yildirim to bring the mine "online' in 2021.

In its 2019 annual report, Yildirim A.S. stated that the company had begun EIA preparations for the Papayal project and expected to fulfill all requirements to obtain an operational license in 2020. Yildirim has noted that among the company's Colombian holdings, the Papayal mine "contains the highest quality coal," with an estimated calorific value ranging from 6,441 to 6,700 kcal/kg.

Questions of Transparency

An October 2022 report on BCC's Colombian mine projects pointed out that Best Coal Company has provided virtually no recent public information regarding the Papayal and San Juan mines, focusing almost exclusively on the smaller Cañaverales mine and thereby raising the question of whether BCC is intentionally obfuscating the broader long-term impacts of its proposed Colombian operations. Questions of transparency have also been raised by the fact that parent company Yildirim's 2021 annual report included no information about BCC's Colombian mine projects, in contrast to the 2020 annual report, which included a detailed two-page spread about the Cañaverales, Papayal and San Juan mines. As of March 2026, the most recent available annual report of Yıldırım Group (2023) did not provide any updates on the Papayal project.

Project Closure

No verified public evidence was found indicating that the Papayal mine had entered construction or operational phases as of 2024–2025. Public reporting on the project declined after 2020, and no confirmed updates were available regarding environmental licensing, construction, or production. Available information suggested that development, if any, remained at an early permitting stage, with no evidence of mine development or infrastructure.

Official records from Colombia’s National Mining Agency (ANM) indicated that the key mining titles associated with the project (including IE4-11401 and GH2-101) were later classified as terminated concession contracts, indicating that the project was effectively canceled following termination of mining titles.

Articles and Resources

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.