Colombia’s National Environmental Licensing Authority, ANLA, will hold a public hearing on November 10 to consider changes to the environmental licence for B2Gold’s Gramalote gold project, 230 km northwest of Bogota and 120 km northeast of Medellin in Antioquia. More than 500 residents of San Roque and Yolombo, the municipalities nearest the project, attended a preparatory session on November 2 and submitted 65 questions, and the hearing will let communities and other parties comment on the proposed changes and environmental measures before ANLA decides.
B2Gold is seeking to amend a licence first granted in 2015 for a larger operation. The company has since scaled the project back and wants to relocate the processing plant and supporting infrastructure. It filed a modified work plan in December 2025 and a modified environmental impact study in March 2026; ANLA began evaluating the application in May and has since requested additional information. B2Gold expects a decision in January 2027 and, subject to clearance, construction starting the following month, with first production targeted for late 2029. The company has budgeted $61 million for Gramalote in 2026, including $35 million for resettlement, small scale mining programmes and environmental and community work, and it has not yet made a final development decision.
The revised plan rests on the 2025 feasibility study: initial capital of $740 million, probable reserves of 76.7 million tonnes grading 0.96 grams of gold per tonne for 2.36 million ounces, and average production of 227,000 ounces a year in the first five years and 177,000 ounces over the full period, with mining over 11 years and processing over 13 years. Indicated resources stand at 155.6 million tonnes grading 0.70 grams per tonne, about 3.52 million ounces. Post construction capital is estimated at $444 million, including $376 million of sustaining capital. B2Gold took full ownership in October 2023, buying AngloGold Ashanti’s 50 percent stake after a larger joint design failed both partners’ return thresholds.
The hearing lands in a changed policy climate. Foreign mining investment in Colombia fell 88 percent to $178 million in 2025 from $1.51 billion in 2022, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the government of President Abelardo de la Espriella is repealing restrictions and courting capital back. Gramalote, a permitted project with a completed feasibility study, is the most advanced test of whether that reset translates into an actual construction decision.