Interview: Despite Political Challenges for the Industry, JC Portal Is Looking for Ways to Support Small Colombian Miners

President Gustavo Petro put his stance against oil exploration front and center during his campaign. While his prominent green agenda wasn’t as openly hostile toward the mining sector, the nation’s first leftist president viewed his election as a mandate to put environmental advocates ahead of those investing in extraction industries.

Photo: José C. Portal (second from the right) and his team members from JC Portal Drilling Supplies at MinExpo Colombia 2023 in Medellín. (Credit: Loren Moss)

This has presented challenge for companies big and small working in the mining sector. To understand the landscape better and learn more about how the new political reality is affecting the industry, Finance Colombia Executive Editor sat down to talk with José C. Portal, founder of JC Portal Drilling Supplies.

While he definitely sees how the uncertainty and new dynamics are discouraging some companies, Portal is also looking for opportunities and working to help some smaller miners use this time to formalize their business.

Loren Moss: In the region, we have a lot of political uncertainty. Brazil has its own political drama. Peru has its own political drama. In Colombia, we have a president who has spoken out to be very anti-petroleum and maybe also anti-mining. As a supplier to the industry, how have you seen the reaction from your mining customers in terms of the willingness to purchase? What have you seen overall in the industry?

José C. Portal: In the industry, when we start perceiving this political noise, exploration is the first part that suffers. We see things become kind of slow at times. People don’t put up money to invest in equipment, and we see that exploration has decreased.

But the nice thing is that in different countries, like Peru, for example, the mines already are developed. So they need to have an exploration program still because the new projects always start.

“If I was a big miner, I would think twice to come and invest in Colombia. But on the other side, Colombia has a lot of traditional miners and small miners that want to formalize in the near future. I think the government is going to help them in their programs.”

– José C. Portal, founder of JC Portal Drilling Supplies

We are preparing in Colombia to see what will be next. Because of the political situation, we don’t want to be involved. You don’t want to take a side, of course, but what we are preparing now is for what we think will come next. And what’s coming next is the small producers — the small miners — want to have their paperwork correct in line with our new legislation. We try to give them new tools so they become more efficient, and we are preparing for that.

We are very proactive company, not reactive, even if it’s going to be hard to sell a big equipment. What we do is we try to tailor our company to the needs in each country or the needs that we see there will be soon coming.

Loren Moss: In looking at some of the equipment you have, it seems to be for commercial mining but not for the giant global mines. Because here we can do things at a small scale, right?

José C. Portal: Yeah. But you can see in Colombia now, the big mines will be punished for something, right? They will be in some ways afraid to invest, I believe. I don’t know — maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m very wrong! But if I was a big miner, I would think twice to come and invest in Colombia.

But on the other side, Colombia has a lot of traditional miners and small miners that want to formalize in the near future. I think the government is going to help them in their programs. So, we are helping them to start preparing because they need to be more technical. There are few different companies similar to us, but they are not doing this thing.

READ MORE: Ecopetrol President Advocates for Oil Exploration in Opposition of Petro’s Goals

Loren Moss: You have facilities in Colombia to serve people. You have facilities in Peru, and you have facilities throughout the region. Does that mean that, rather than having to import something from the other side of the world, you have both a cost advantage and a service advantage?

José C. Portal: Right. We have technical people here to go and actually ensure that all products work well. That’s one advantage.

Then the second one: We have inventory here to help. I think we are investing a lot of money bringing new technology. For example, we have a new device to check the angles from Turkey that’s very economical and good quality. We have a lot of accessories.

Price-wise. we want to be very, very competitive and we’re going to try to give them good materials and good stuff. We don’t go for the cheap, cheap stuff, but we want to be economical. A good price for good quality has to be the end thing.