La Francia
La Francia is a coal mine in the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, located in the municipalities Becerril and El Paso, Cesar, Colombia owned by the Goldman Sachs Group. It mines coal from the Paleocene Los Cuervos Formation, time-equivalent with the Cerrejón Formation, which is mined in the northeastern part of the basin in Latin America's largest coal mine, Cerrejón. In 2016, La Francia produced 11.6 Megatons of coal.History
The mine was owned by Coalcorp Mining until 2010. It was acquired for US$200 million in 2010. It is owned by Goldman Sachs through their Colombia-based subsidiary, Colombian National Resources.
It closed in January 2013 after the contractor hired by Colombian National Resources opted out, but opened again in January 2014, at a lesser capacity. By August 2014, it was in talks to be acquired by investor Mick Davis.
During the strikes of 2013, miners occupied the mine and refused offers provided by the companies involved.
