Colombia Says Unprecedented Coal Interruption Will Slow Economy

Colombia said a three-pronged interruption of its coal industry, South America’s largest, is curbing tax revenue and dimming growth prospects.

The shutdown of three of Colombia’s four largest mine complexes is affecting 79 percent of the country’s output and costing 192,000 metric tons of exports a day, Javier Garcia, head of corporate mining at the Mining and Energy Ministry, said in an interview from Bogota last night. Coal is Colombia’s second-biggest source of foreign revenue.