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The mining boom that Colombia is experiencing has driven a group of Australian firms to visit the South American country and explore what the country has to offer in terms of mining for foreign investors, informs Manto mineral.
The committee is part of the Buy Australian at Home and Aboard (BAHA) program, lead by Peter Beatte, former Prime Minister of Queensland State. And the companies part of this mission are: Mine Mine Site Technologies, Orelogy Group Pty, Korvest, Iesa Environmental, Mineware, Datapod (Australia) Pty Ltd, Minecorp, Sage Group, Hofmann Engineering, Fluid Power NT and Cardno Entrix.
Beattie believes Colombia, particularly the coal industry, can use the technologies and services Australian companies have to offer.
The executive explained that these services could also be useful to gold firms, which is another developing area in Colombia.
Australia in Latin America
Currently there are more than $245 billion announced in investments for the Latin America extractive industry in the next five to 10 years, with special emphasis in Chile, Peru and Colombia. Large miners, such as BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Rio Tinto already have an established presence in the market.
Over 80 Australian suppliers have businesses in Chile and about 25 in Peru, but only 10 in Colombia, so the potential opportunities “are huge”, said Beatte.
There are more than 400 companies in Australia that supply mining equipment, technology and services related to the industry, from which more than 200 export to the rest of the world.
Comments
Fernando Maddock
I sent an e-mail to Gina Reinhart but never received a response. Where can i send her a note that she will respond. I have peoplein Colombia in the mining business that want to do business with the Australians.