Colombia studying impose environmental licenses for mineral exploration.

Colombia studying impose environmental licenses for mineral exploration.

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The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development in Colombia, Luz Helena Sarmiento, revealed today that his ministry is preparing a bill to re-impose environmental licenses for mining exploration stage of any mineral.

The minister, a geologist by profession, said in an interview with El Tiempo newspaper has already reported on this initiative by President Juan Manuel Santos, and his colleague of Mines and Energy, Amylkar Acosta, in order to "protect the environment "and imposing" clear rules for investors. "

"There's a bill that we are preparing to reform the mining code and reestablish mining licenses to explore," he said, explaining that in the case of scans in progress "will be a transition."

Last week decided to suspend shipments of coal barges, as affecting all coal in general and in particular the American multinational Drummond, concentrating the country's second largest operation, as they had contravened a rule that required making direct charge from 1 January.

"Making the decision to suspend the Drummond was not easy, but the government has demonstrated that it has soft hands for law enforcement," he said Sarmiento, for whom the company has had a "challenging" behavior.

According to the minister, "there are more than 600 open investigations" of companies that violate environmental or management plan. "Drummond, for example, had eight open investigations," he said.

Asked about the percentage of investigations that end in sanctions, Sarmiento said that "at least 99 percent," and concluded: "Things can be done well done, and the evil do you know how it goes with me. When that does not meet the law is doing very badly. "

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