Mepsa looking to enter Colombian mining market

Peruvian steel balls maker Mepsa is interested in investing in the Colombian mining market due to attractive legal and administrative changes in that market which offer improved conditions for growth, Mepsa commercial manager Eduardo Irigoyen told BNamericas. Irigoyen said recent investments from other mining companies in Colombia had encouraged Mepsa to start looking at that market. The Colombian mining market, "has a lot of potential but has not been developed and hasn't received investment to grow." Irigoyen said Mepsa was encouraged by the structural changes in the mining sector regulator, which promise greater judicial protection for investors. Colombia's mining industry is due to undergo major changes as a government decree is introduced to wind up the national mining company, Minercol, and the geo-scientific, mining, nuclear and environmental agency Ingeominas to make way for the creation of Colgemin, the new entity that will oversee the sector. Irigoyen said the creation of Colgemin is a sign that the country is beginning to better organize the sector and create the conditions required for greater growth. Irigoyen said Mepsa was due to decide soon whether it would expand its output capacity by 10% from the existing 40,000t of steel balls and 6,000 pieces of iron and steel. Mepsa's principal market is the mining sector, supplying steel balls for milling, processing and spare parts.