May 19, 2016
The new generations that work at FENOCO learned more about our operation.
On this occasion, Drummond Ltd. received Miguel Ángel Santiesteban Vives, Socio-environmental Manager of FENOCO S.A., and their social, environmental and legal teams. FENOCO S.A. is a Colombian company who responsible for the administration of the railway concession in northern Colombia and the improvement and maintenance of the rail transportation infrastructure that Drummond Ltd.’s trains travel from our mines (Pribbenow and El Descanso in Cesar) to Puerto Drummond in Ciénaga, Magdalena.
“I am tremendously grateful for [Drummond]’s invitation, and this visit certainly leaves us pleasant lessons. With this, I reaffirm the fact that you have been here from the beginning and that you have the historical memory of the mining processes that have been created to empower and train to carry out a responsible operation with quality,” said the Socio-environmental Manager of FENOCO S.A., Miguel Ángel Santiesteban to Drummond.
As part of the strategy of reaching out to communities in the area of influence and the national authorities, Drummond Ltd. continues to strengthen its relations through guided visits, training talks and the socialization of its Environmental Management Plan as a result of its social and environmental commitment.
During this visit, FENOCO’s employees also toured the Pribbenow mine and listened to talks by the management and administration team. This allowed them to review their knowledge of the coal mining and production process, the equipment operation system, truck dispatching and the process of loading the train at the Load Out with the coal that is transported to the port by rail. They also learned about community relations, forest compensation, fauna and flora relocation and environmental revegetation projects that are carried out by the company.
In this regard, Gregoria Hernández, an employee of the Colombian company, expressed her gratitude to the company and the importance of the visit. “All that is left is for us to thank you. We have learned so much and the experience you have here is very good, The same for the projects you have to mitigate the environmental impact that complements your operation, and that is valuable.”
During the tour, Claudia Marcela Rivas, Administrative Manager; Alfredo Araujo, Community Relations Manager; Iván De Armas, Superintendent of Roads and Special Projects, and Fray Orozco, supervisor in the Environmental Department, presented
the activities of each of the areas of the mine from the various overlooks (Paujil, Ramp 7 and Load Out) as well as the work carried out in the train loading area of the Load Out and at the Meal Production Center. All of this was with the purpose of increasing the knowledge of our operation, which is one of the principal sources of the national and regional economy.
Likewise, the employees visited the company’s port, located in the municipality of Ciénaga, to get first hand knowledge of the complete cycle of Drummond’s operation, from the mining of coal through its transportation by rail, up to stockpiling and exports.
In this way the visitors became acquainted with the locomotive maintenance processes, visited the yards where the coal is stockpiled and classified, observed the travel along the conveyor belts and its stowage on the ships that arrive at the direct loading pier where the process of the operation carried out by the company is completed.
The visitors focused on the social and environmental processes that Drummond Ltd. carries out every day, with the aim of replicating the components that are important for both organizations.
For Felipe Correa, a FENOCO attorney, “this visit is important because it allows us to complement the strategy that we are going to use with communities and, of course, to get to know Drummond’s operations, and thus to answer more clearly any question the communities ask us about operation of the company.”
He also noted that “the operations must now be carried out hand-in-hand with the communities, while fostering local oversight. Drummond is an example of such work, and FENOCO is sure to adopt and implement many strategies for community relations processes that are important in the communities of the rail sector.”
With all of this, the FENOCO employees were able to see in detail the programs and projects that Drummond carries out to care for and protect the environment, its communities and its workers, while strengthening the projects that permit the improvement of the living conditions of those who live in its mining and port areas of influence through strategies aimed at building a socially responsible and sustainable company.
