According to Bloomberg, Carlos Rodado Noriega reportedly told La Republica that output in 2011 could rise to 85-90 million tons. This is a sizeable increase over 2010’s actual production of 75Mt, which was up from 73Mt in 2009.

Rodado said 2010 production actually came in 6% below the government’s estimates due to heavy rains affecting production.

The minister also speculated on Colombia’s oil production, which he said should be between 950,000t and 1Mt this year.

The report comes after 26 workers were killed in two mine explosions at Colombian coal operations.

The first occurred January 26 at the La Preciosa underground pit mine in the Norte de Santander Province. Investigators and officials are linking the blast to methane.

Shortly after the event, Reuters reported that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was calling for a mine safety review.

"We're going to review every way mines are controlled and how the regulations are used to avoid these accidents,” he said.

“That's where there's a need for much more effectiveness, I believe. If there are effective and rigorous controls, these tragedies would not happen."

A 2007 mine explosion, also at La Preciosa, killed 32 workers. A blast at another Colombian mine last June left 70 dead.

The most recent incident occurred February 1 and also involved a methane-fueled mine explosion. The blast occurred at the La Escondida operation near Sutatausa in the state of Cundinamarca, and reportedly killed five workers.

More than 100 miners died in Colombian mines in 2010.