Cerrejón is a privately-owned, independently-managed joint venture in which BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Xstrata Coal each own a one third stake.

Located in North-East Colombia, Cerrejón is ideally positioned to supply the growing US import market from its own dedicated rail and port facilities. The high quality thermal coal produced from Cerrejón is attractive to the US power generation market due to its low ash content, low sulphur dioxide emissions profile and high calorific value.

Cerrejón provides Xstrata Coal with a significant stake in one of the world's largest and lowest-cost export open pit coal mines, with a reserve base in excess of 900 million tonnes. An expansion is underway to increase Cerrejón’s production from 26 million tonnes to an annual production capacity of 32 million tonnes, with further incremental brownfield expansions currently being assessed.

Cerrejon is made up of four zones: the North Zone, the Central Zone, the Patilla area and the South Zone.

In December 1976, an Association Contract was signed between Carbocol S.A., a state owned coal company, and Intercor, an ExxonMobil affiliate, for the development of Cerrejón North Zone. In January 1999, an agreement with the Government of Colombia extended this phase an additional 25 years more, until 2034.

In November 2000, the Colombian Government sold Carbocol S.A.’s (50%) participation in Cerrejón North Zone Association Contract, to a consortium made up of subsidiary companies of BHP Billiton plc, Anglo American plc and Glencore International AG. In February of 2002, the consortium acquired the remaing 50% from Intercor and merged Intercor with Carbones del Cerrejón S.A to create Carbones del Cerrejón LLC, Cerrejón.

Cerrejon has won these awards:

• The Iberoamerican Quality Award in the category of Big Private Company
• The Colombian Quality Award in the category of Great Industry
• Emerald Cross Award from the Colombian Safety Council
• The "Blue Planet" National Ecology Award.
• The ISO 14001 Certification and the OHSAS 18001 Certification by Bureau Veritas Quality International 2003.