A look at mining in Colombia

Talking about mining leads us to consider an activity of great importance to the world and the market. Just think of the most everyday items, those present in every home or office. We can also think of road infrastructure, the devices that enable communication and transportation… Consider the need for lithium and other minerals for battery production, essential for the energy transition; and beyond that, even if we spent several minutes or hours thinking about it, we couldn’t list all the goods and services that require, to some extent, materials found underground.

The importance of mining in producing everything the world needs to satisfy humanity’s material needs cannot be denied. It is true that, due to ideological perspectives, mining has unfairly acquired a negative reputation in some sectors. While it is true that mining in Colombia faces significant challenges and that there are problems associated with mining areas and the activity itself, we cannot therefore expect mining to disappear.

The case of Germany is widely known, where ideological arguments plunged the country into a difficult environmental, political, and economic situation. The Green Party pressured German authorities to close nuclear power plants, forcing the country to revert to more polluting energy sources like coal or rely on Russia for natural gas, which then became a tool for Moscow to exert pressure on Berlin. Who paid the price? The German people.

For the purposes of this column, let us understand the concept of ideology and its derivatives, following the proposal of Father Javier Olivera Ravasi, PhD in Philosophy from the Pontifical Lateran University, who defines it as a closed set of thought, independent of extramental reality. This definition is consistent with the reality of economic activity, since many people, seeking to maintain the internal coherence of their system of thought, force extramental reality to fit their system, trying to blame mining activity directly for the problem as a whole and focusing the solution on ending it, without neglecting to explore the possibilities it has to be part of the necessary change.

This same fallacious line of reasoning includes those who argue that, since abortion prohibition does not prevent clandestine abortions, this act against life should be permitted and elevated to a fundamental right. President Gustavo Petro engaged in similar argumentation in repeated speeches regarding the fight against cocaine and other recreational drugs, stating, even at the United Nations headquarters, that prohibition is what kills.

On the issue of mining, the current government’s stance has also proven inconsistent: on the one hand, arguing that they would not grant new mining or oil extraction concessions, yet showing a willingness to buy oil from the usurping mafia in Miraflores, since it seems that the combustion of Venezuelan oil, thanks to some sublime blessing from the despot Hugo Chávez, does not release greenhouse gases. Similarly inconsistent with the transition from an extractive to a productive economy is the idea of ​​having a national, public minerals company—Ecominerales—when what they advocate is ending mining activity.

In short, mining plays a fundamental role in the economy, geopolitics, and human well-being. Far from ending it, Colombians and our authorities must seek better solutions for formalization, highlighting the role of private companies in helping subsistence miners formalize their operations and adapt their economic activity to workplace safety requirements and environmental conservation measures. Improving security is also crucial to prevent armed groups from exploiting this activity, another issue that has been a major unresolved matter for this government and those that preceded Álvaro Uribe’s administration.

It’s unrealistic to assume that mining should disappear simply because it faces challenges. To emphasize this point, consider the following data: According to the National Mining Agency, 57% of mining concessions are dedicated to the extraction of construction minerals, without which housing, buildings, and other infrastructure would be impossible. Furthermore, mining activity takes place in 30 of Colombia’s 32 departments, highlighting its importance within the country.

According to data from the Colombian Mining Association (ACM), we found that, in 2022, in terms of royalties, mining rents and other taxes, the mining sector contributed 20.47 trillion pesos, a year with a particularly high figure, but one that demonstrates the potential of mining to produce wealth.

The following table, authored by the ACM, shows the evolution of these values.

The graph shows the values ​​of mining rents, royalties, and other taxes related to mining activity, which peaked in 2022 and subsequently remained at levels higher than those of the years prior to 2022, until 2024, the last year for which data is available. The table is taken from the ACM.

According to the agency, 10,745 miners were formalized in 2024 through mechanisms such as special reserve areas, mining formalization contracts, and contracts with differentiated requirements. Mineral exports in 2024 totaled US$16.9 billion, and the country attracted US$2.35 billion in foreign direct investment during the same year.

Mining companies invested 3.3 trillion pesos in environmental programs over the past six years, according to the ACM, and planted 9,813,453 trees. In addition to formalization programs, mining companies contributed 364 billion pesos in 2023 to health, housing, and education programs.

In addition to everything mentioned above, we find that mining is a sector of the economy that generates a large number of jobs for Colombians, not only directly, but also indirectly, and when done well, it generates a significant improvement in the quality of life of the people involved in this activity.

In a future post, we will delve into the challenges of mining in Colombia, and perhaps the world as well; however, what I intended to highlight in this first instance is the positive dimension of mining, as an activity capable of offering great progress to the populations and inhabitants of Colombia, boosting the national economy and those of families, even serving as a vehicle for the transition to cleaner energy and an activity that has raised awareness among companies, which have made significant contributions to environmental protection and to modernizing the activity, moving away from the most polluting methods.

With the above, we invite you to value the importance of mining and to have a critical view of it, which allows us to mitigate its negative effects and the problems associated with it, while at the same time enhancing its virtues, making the most of them, moving away from ideological positions, in which it is easy to blame mining for all evils, without taking effective actions for the common good.