Colombia’s gold production is expected to double by 2012, due to improvements in the country’s security conditions, and new discoveries which indicate that the country has abundant supplies of the metal, announced the manager of Ingeominas, Mario Ballesteros, to Colombian media.
The country could potentially produce up to 3 million troy ounces of gold in 2012, almost double the 1.57 million mined in 2009 and far more than the 501,500 ounces of 2006.
“Colombia has medium- to large-scale gold deposits that are as yet unexplored, because local and foreign companies were afraid to explore in areas where the guerrillas were active,” explained Ballesteros.
Mining companies are searching for gold across 1.69 hectares, with 1,536 “gold certificates” issued by the government since 2004 and 7,700 waiting to be approved.
Colombia has been the main producer of gold since 1937 and could attract up to 3.3 million dollars of foreign investment in the next three years.