ANGLOGOLD Ashanti has stopped a soil study at a exploration site in Colombia after the nearby town’s major issued a suspension order, said Reuters citing the company.
Work at the site in Jerico, Antioquia province, was stopped on Monday and the project will remain halted pending a review by the province’s tribunal, Reuters said.
The company was not carrying out mining exploration at the site, but previous exploration by AngloGold subsidiary Minera de Cobre Quebradona indicate the larger area has some five million tonnes of copper reserves, said Reuters citing the company.
A wave of environmentally focused anti-mining referendums that bar mining and oil extraction had worried investors in Colombia until the constitutional court ruled last year that local votes cannot halt energy projects.
AngloGold was forced to suspend a potentially $2bn project in the town of Cajamarca in 2017 because of a vote there.
