By Diana Delgado

June 6, 2021 - Mining company Anglo American has filed a lawsuit challenging a ban that prevents Colombian coal mining firm Cerrejon from developing its La Puente pit.

The latest lawsuit comes after fellow Cerrejon shareholders BHP and Glencore filed separate suits for the same reason on 27 April and 1 June, respectively.

Cerrejon has been blocked from working on the northern section of the La Puente pit since November 2017. Colombia's constitutional court suspended operations because of concerns about the impact of rerouting a stream on local water supply.

Anglo American's latest legal challenge was filed to the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The government's legal defence agency director, Camilo Gomez, told Argus this week that the state made a strong attempt to reach a pre-arbitration agreement with these companies to avoid the lawsuits.

Cerrejon planned to develop La Puente to offset expected production declines elsewhere. The pit contains 35mn t of proven coal reserves and was expected to enable Cerrejon to offset 3mn t/yr declines in production from other pits over 2015-33.

Cerrejon exported 7.31mn t in January-April, which was flat on the previous year, but railway blockades in February and again throughout May have constrained supply to the seaborne market. Cerrejon exported 13.6mn t in 2020, an 18-year low.