Coal mining is more commonly criticised by environmentalists for polluting air and water, degrading landscapes and fuelling climate change than for creating new wildlife habitats.

Surging prices are an indication of the tension between the country’s surging electricity demand and the government’s stated aim to limit coal output.

Prices for coking coal, a raw material mainly used in steelmaking, gained more than 4.5%.

Burning Man principles contain lessons that could be more usefully shared with the mining industry.

Glencore previously said the Calenturitas and La Jagua mines would be handed back to Colombia because a restart of its operations would not be viable.

Manufacturing renewable energy components would be part of a strategy to create about 300,000 jobs, he said.

Shipments remain limited and so far insufficient to alleviate a persistent supply crunch.

The producers face severe disruption if smelters experience outages and have few alternatives to domestic coal.