Cerrejon May Not Meet 2013 Coal Production Target

Reuters reported that Colombia’s Cerrejon, a joint venture between Anglo American plc (LSE:AAL), BHP Billiton Ltd. (ASX:BHP,LSE:BLT,NYSE:BHP) and Glencore Xstrata plc (LSE:GLEN), may have problems meeting its 2013 production target of 34 million tonnes of coal as a result of a strike earlier this year and attacks on its railway.

As quoted in the market news:

“We have had with the strike, blockages and attacks, a number of interruptions to the supply of coal. We are able to recover some of the lost time but with more things happening it gets harder to reach it,” Restrepo said, adding Cerrejon was still “optimistic” it could still reach its 2013 target.

The company produced 34.6 million tonnes of coal in 2012 out of 89.2 million tonnes produced nationwide that year, and 33.3 million tonnes in 2011. The government has forecast total national coal production of 94 million tonnes for 2013.

Colombia is the world’s No. 4 coal exporter with much of its output consumed by European countries. Coal miners and oil producers in the Andean nation have to contend with frequent attacks on infrastructure by the country’s two left-wing rebel groups, the FARC and ELN.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.