Hatonuevo 2.2

Hato Nuevo, Spanish for New Herd, is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of La Guajira. A municipality of the La Guajira Department since 1994, it has a population of approximately 17,014 inhabitants, the majority being workers of El Cerrejon coal mine.The town has an extension of 347 km2 and is located an altitude of 50 meters above sea level with an average temperature of 28 °C throughout the year. It is 75 km away from the capital of La Guajira Department, Riohacha.HistoryCoal miningBHP Billiton and its joint venture partners, Anglo American and Glencore, became equal owners of the Cerrejon Zona Norte (CZN) coal mine in Colombia in February 2002, when they acquired International Colombia Resources Corporation (Intercor) from ExxonMobil, which held the mine's remaining 50 per cent ownership and operational interests. A new company, Cerrejon Coal Company, was formed, combining CZN and Carbones del Cerrejon. Situated within the mining lease is the village of Tabaco. The acquisition has proceeded in accordance with Colombian law. As part of the legal process, a survey was conducted to determine whether the people of the village wanted to sell their possession rights or be relocated. The survey established that there were 213 possession rights in Tabaco, of which 8 were municipal public properties, 151 were unoccupied lands or houses and 54 were occupied dwellings.