The Minister of Mines and Energy, María Nohemí Arboleda, announced this Thursday the repeal, in a single act, of a resolution that had delimited ten essential mining districts in the country. She did so during the 2026 National Mining Congress, before entrepreneurs, guilds, and sector authorities.
“I want to give you news that we know you will really like,” she said before confirming the scope of the measure and the work that preceded it in the previous hours.
Arboleda stated that the repeal has effect going forward and that it does not affect rights already recognized to citizens. According to her explanation, none of those delimitations were executed and that was the reason why the decision does not impact titles or ongoing procedures.
The announcement came alongside the ratification of the government policy to place mining on its economic reactivation agenda.
The ministry presented the activity as a piece of the energy transition and the minister summarized that commitment with a phrase she repeated before the audience: “Without mining, there is no transition”, she affirmed.
🔴 ATTENTION | Minister of Mines announces repeal of resolution
The Minister of Mines announced the repeal of the resolution that delimited 10 Special Mining Districts, a decision that modifies the definition of these zones for the development of mining activities in the… pic.twitter.com/LgSskdV5ZP
— EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) September 3, 2026
The Ministry’s figures
In her speech, the minister showed a sector balance. According to the figures she presented, mining exports totaled 16.060 billion dollars in 2025, a 21 percent drop compared to 20.387 billion in 2022.
In the same scenario, according to the Ministry, the activity contributed 43.66 trillion pesos to the State between 2022 and 2024, in terms of taxes, royalties, and other contributions. Mining royalties fell 34 percent between 2022 and 2025, dropping from 6.13 to 4.02 trillion pesos.
Foreign direct investment registered the strongest hit, with a 88 percent drop, from 1.508 to 178 million dollars. To that picture, the ministry added an environmental data point, with 105,060 hectares showing evidence of alluvial gold mining in the latest available national measurement.
On that basis, the Ministry announced a mining round together with the National Mining Agency, aimed at attracting exploration investment and shortening decision times.
Coal had its own chapter. The minister defended its exploitation as support for the electrical system and called to strengthen prior consultation processes to make them more agile and transparent, without affecting the guarantees of communities or the viability of projects.
Formalization and ‘regenerative mining’
The other axis of the speech was the formalization of small miners. The minister described the transition from informality to legality as a source of stable income, formal employment, and access to education for families dependent on the trade.
The minister framed that process in what she called regenerative mining, a step beyond the rehabilitation stage of the last two decades. “That the territory where we arrive with mining is left better than we found it”, she proposed as a goal.
To conclude, she insisted that this objective depends on joint work between the State, which sets the rules, the companies, which provide capital and technology, and the communities, which provide the territory.
David Alejandro López Bermúdez, special envoy to Cartagena
More news
Historic: USO, Ecopetrol’s union, supports President Abelardo De La Espriella’s energy and fracking plan
Attention: Petro government’s purchase of solar panels for $164 billion denounced by EL TIEMPO falls through
SPEC maintenance enters its final stretch with 79% progress and Government assures gas and energy supply operates without setbacks