Venezuela, casting around for income amid US sanctions, recently restarted coal production with a Turkish company and is looking to export more than 10 million tons of the fuel this year, company sources say.
But the mining is occurring without environmental safeguards, polluting local air and water, according to a company source with knowledge of the operations, Indigenous leaders and members of local communities.
Venezuela’s government has touted what it says is economic growth of 8.7 percent in the third quarter, although many international companies have long since abandoned the country, where inflation is expected to reach some 200 percent this year and foreign oil companies must seek US licenses to operate.
Coal, however, is exempt from sanctions, paving the way for the reactivation of joint venture Carboturven, a partnership between Venezuela’s state-owned Carbozulia and the Turkish company Glenmore Dis Ticaret Ve Madencilik A.S.
The coal mining ramp-up echoes other attempts by the government of President Nicolas Maduro to diversify the OPEC member’s economy away from oil. It is the latest example of coal mining persisting in Latin America, even as countries like Chile pivot to renewable energy.
