Drummond Coal Exports from Colombia Expected to Resume

    By Dan Molinski

    BOGOTA--Colombian environmental authorities are expected Friday to give a green light to Drummond Co. to resume its coal exports, 23 days after the Alabama firm's port license was suspended over a coal-dumping incident.

    The National Authority of Environmental Licenses, or ANLA, sent an email Thursday night announcing a press conference for later Friday to address the Drummond situation. The email didn't say the company's port-license suspension would be lifted but an official at ANLA earlier said such a press conference would likely signal the license will be reinstated.

    Several local media, citing unnamed sources, said Drummond would likely restart shipments later Friday or Saturday.

    Drummond typically exports some 80,000 metric tons a day of thermal coal from Colombia but has shipped nothing since its port license was pulled Feb. 6 over an incident in early January which the company acknowledges it dumped "about 300 tons" of coal into the Caribbean Sea to prevent one of its barges from sinking. It didn't notify environmental authorities about it until more than a week later, after photos of the incident were apparently revealed.

    Drummond has since said it "regrets" the incident and provided ANLA with a contingency plan that it says will help prevent such an incident from happening again.

    In addition to the problems at Drummond, which is Colombia's second-largest coal producer, a strike at the country's top coal producer Cerrejon is also disrupting shipments. The Cerrejon strike has been going on since Feb. 7, leaving more than 2 million tons of coal unproduced. In all, some 80% of Colombia's coal exports were halted for most of last month.

    Colombia's central bank said last week the drop in coal shipments will hurt the country's first-quarter economic growth rate. Coal accounts for 12% of all Colombian exports. Colombia is among the top five coal exporters in the world.

    Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@dowjones.com