In order to promote the diversification of the country’s mineral basket and strengthen the development of the mining sector, the National Mining Agency (ANM) delimited and declared two new strategic mining areas (AEM) in the municipalities of San Diego and La Paz, in the department of Cesar.
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“These areas represent an opportunity for Colombia to diversify its mineral matrix, generate new sources of employment and resources for the regions, while providing competitive conditions that promote exploration and exploitation, making the country more attractive to investors.”, informed Juan Miguel Duran Prieto, president of the ANM.
Taking into account the reports of the Colombian Geological Service and the analyzes carried out by the ANM, they were delimited as strategic mining areas the expanded AEM 2 and AEM 15 blocks, which have a high potential to host copper and precious metal mineralization. These blocks add up to a total approximate area of 8,788.5391 ha.
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The AEM allow to generate additional resources for the Nation and for the regions through economic compensation additional to the royalties, as well as direct investment in the region derived from the social management plans of the contracts.
The AEM are areas in which the existence of high potential for strategic minerals has been established as a result of the prospecting carried out in the area by the Colombian Geological Service. Once delimited by the mining authority, it is not possible to receive new proposals or sign contracts mining concession in these areas, and must be granted through a special exploration and exploitation contract through processes of objective selection.
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As of March 1, offers for these blocks will be received through the ANNA Minería platform.
Those interested in participating must have been constituted first as ‘enabled‘, which implies meeting minimum requirements related to their legal, financial, technical, environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility capacity, established in resolutions 083 and 115 of 2021, and presenting their offers for the adjudication of the available areas through the Anna Minería platform.
“The objective selection process for AEM is flexible, competitive and transparent with clearly established times to access the available areas, providing greater legal certainty, in addition to limiting risks to investors.”, assured Duran Prieto.
To know the areas in detail, those interested have at their disposal a data room, administered by the Colombian Geological Service, which has socio-environmental information, normative legal and standardized technique, raw data and mineral potential evaluation reports and maps.
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It should be noted that the ANM launched in February 2021 the objective selection process for copper with the first 5 blocks within the framework of the mining round for that mineral, a tool that achieves mineral diversification and promotes exploration in the country in areas with high potential for strategic minerals.
STRATEGIC MINING AREAS WITH COPPER POTENTIAL
Block 1: It has an area of 4,940 hectares (ha) and is located in an area defined by SGC as having high potential for copper minerals in the jurisdiction of the municipality of San Diego (Cesar).
Expanded block 2: With the unification and new delimitation, the block went from having an initial area of 101.8123 ha, to having a total area of 6,057.1907 ha, (adding 5,955.3784 ha of block ZRP 418 with high mineral potential) in the jurisdiction of the municipality. from San Diego.
Block 3: It has an area of 155 ha, located in an area defined by SGC as having high potential for copper minerals and in the jurisdiction of the municipalities of San Diego and La Paz (Cesar).
Block 4: awarded through a Special Contract for the Exploration and Exploitation of Strategic Mining Reserve Areas for copper and polymetallic minerals to the company CARBOMAS SAS according to the terms of reference issued in Resolution 150 of March 18, 2021.
Block 5: in the northern Perijá area, between the municipalities of Urumita and Jagua del Pilar.
Block 15: It has an area of 2,731.3484 ha in the jurisdiction of the municipalities of San Diego and La Paz in the department of Cesar.
BRIEFCASE
