Colombian mining company Pacific Stone, said on Wednesday it is to begin extracting lime in the north of Colombia.
The company’s president Michael Felsmann said in an interview with news website La Republica that an investment of over $35 million had been made to realize their intention of becoming one of the main extractors of lime in the country.
Pacific Stone is currently finishing a complex for quicklime and hydrated lime production in the Cartagena area where there is between 400 and 500 million tons of limestone reserves, according to the company president.
The first furnace is to be finished by November and the second ready to start operations at the beginning of 2013. Once production begins the company will be the largest producer in the Andean region.
Pacific Stone was founded in Colombian capital Bogota in 2007 and shares some of the same shareholders and executives as Pacific Rubiales, a big player in the Colombian market with a net income of $483 million in the first half of 2012 according to its portfolio.
As the second largest oil and gas producer in Colombia, Pacific Rubiales has interests in several pipelines in the country and owns the oil and gas companies Pacific Stratus, Kappa Energy Holdings, Meta Petroleum while working in association with State owned Ecopetrol. The company also has investments with Proelectrica and Pacific Coal.
Pacific Rubiales also has conenctions with Gran Colombia Gold, Pacific Iron and Pacific Green according to Colombian newspaper El Universal.
Pacific Stone president, Michael Felsmann said that Colombia “currently has a shortfall in production,” and the goal “is to become the market leading producer of limestone in the country.”
