Investment firm Key Industries has acquired Colombian Natural Resources (CNR) and will gradually resume coal production, according to Colombia Minister of Energy and Mining Diego Mesa.
Murray Energy Corp., now American Consolidated Natural Resources, acquired CNR in August 2015 from Goldman Sachs. Recently, CNR was forced to halt coal production and file for bankruptcy protection in Colombia in response to weak market conditions. In 2019, CNR produced 4 million metric tons (mt) of thermal coal.
Key Industries consists of Colombian investors with expertise in the mining, logistics and infrastructure sectors, according to Argus Media.
CNR’s two mines, El Hatillo and the La Francia mines, have an estimated 28 million mt of low-sulfur coal reserves. Key Industries also secured an 8.43% stake in the Fenoco railway, allowing it to move 3.5 million mt/y of coal to ports on the Caribbean coast.
