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Colombia lays claim to huge gold deposit
December 28, 2007

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=565&fSetId=265&fArticleId=4187042

Bogota, Colombia - Colombian authorities have announced a major gold find that would double the country's production of the metal by 2011 and which they claim could prove to be one of the 10 biggest deposits in the world.

A foreign mining company uncovered the deposit and informed the government, which announced the discovery last week but said details would not be released until February.

But President Alvaro Uribe appeared unable to hide his excitement last week.

"How am I going to keep a secret this big until February?" Uribe asked in a December 20 speech, revealing that Mining and Energy Minister Hernan Martinez had that morning told him of the discovery, which will require an initial $2 billion investment and will double the nation's gold output by 2011.

Authorities didn't give the name of the foreign mining company, but Bogota's El Tiempo newspaper reported that the deposit is in the central state of Tolima, and was discovered by Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., one of the world's largest gold producers.