This complex deposit controlled by tectonic features associated to the Cerrejón and Ranchería thrust faults and Tabaco folding zone. The deposit is limited to the north by the Oca fault, to the southeast by the Cerrejón thrust fault and to the northwest by an abrupt topographic change due to the occurrence of calcareous rocks of the Manantial Formation. In addition, there are strike-slip faults, which split the deposit into blocks, maintaining its stratigraphic continuity.

The Cesar–Ranchería Basin mainly consists of a sedimentary succession of Paleocene age and unconsolidated recent deposits. The Cerrejón Formation (Upper Paleocene) is approximately 900 m in thickness and forms part of the Triassic to mid-Miocene sequence of sediments that filled a regional basin in the northern part of South America (extending eastwards to Los Llanos Basin in Venezuela). The coal-bearing sequence forms part of this sedimentary unit, which consists of shales, sandy mudstones, grey sandstones and coal, with notable absence of a conglomeratic siliciclastic succession. Coal seams of economic interest are actually in exploitation, being more or less regularly distributed and present variable thickness.

The Cerrejón Formation has been divided into three groups (lower, middle, and upper) based on the thickness and distribution of the coal beds. Overall coal bed thickness averages 3 m and ranges from 0.7 to 10 m (Weaver, 1993), although the thickest coal beds (1.4 to 10 m) is in the upper part of this sedimentary sequence.

Cerrejón’s coal assets consist of an open-cut mine with several pits. Overburden is removed after blasting, using truck and shovel. Coal is then extracted using excavators or loaders and loaded onto trucks to be taken to stockpiles.

Coal from stockpiles is crushed, of which a certain portion is washed and processed through the coal preparation plant. Export coal is transported to the port via a 150-kilometre railway.

Open-cut Produces a medium rank bituminous thermal coal (non-coking, suitable for the export market).

Beneficiation facilities: crushing plant with capacity in excess of 40 Mtpa and washing plant Nominal capacity in excess of 3 Mtpa.