AngloGold’s ‘Quebradona’ Mine Project in Antioquia Resumes Preliminary Works with Strict Health Protocols; Environmental Licensing Process Continues

AngloGold Ashanti Colombia announced April 23 that its proposed “Quebradona” copper-gold mine project near Jerico, Antioquia soon will get a second information-gathering visit from Colombia’s Agencia Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (ANLA, the environmental permitting agency).

Commenting on the news, company president Felipe Marquez added that the upcoming site visit “is very positive because it will enable [ANLA] to get more information for a licensing decision that will enjoy absolute transparency, technical rigor and opportune citizen participation.”

“The second visit will be made once the national government lifts the restrictions that were established before the health emergency that the country is experiencing due to the spread of Covid-19,” according to AngloGold Ashanti.

On a parallel front, AngloGold announced that as of April 21, the company restarted some preliminary works at the site – following new Colombia Health Ministry biosafety protocols to protect workers and people near the site from contracting Coronavirus.

“Quebradona resumes some of its activities in the field with the purpose of reactivating the work and advancing the activities that are essential for the continuity of the project,” according to AngloGold.

“The restart of priority activities is carried out within the framework of a strict biosecurity protocol that seeks to protect the health and life of its collaborators, contractors, suppliers and inhabitants of its area of influence.

“There are some tasks and activities that, by their nature, require to be carried out on site and which are not a source of risk for community contagion, since they do not crowd large numbers of people around one site, they do not take place in closed spaces and they do not imply interaction with people who come from the outside.

“In line with the regulations of the Ministries of Health and Social Protection, Labor and Mines and Energy, which established the conditions under which the mining sector can operate and complying with the recommendations of the Jericho Ministry of Health, AngloGold Ashanti designed complete and detailed operating protocols aimed at minimizing the risk of spreading the Covid-19.

“The protocols include provisions related to the control and rapid detection of possible cases, mandatory hygiene measures for people, sanitation processes for facilities, measures for the transport of personnel, recommendations for extra-occupational care, guidelines for health personnel, among others.”