Published: June 2, 2017 |

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Bolivian tin, zinc and silver miners are unable to meet deliveries due to a six-day strike by Chilean customs workers at the country’s ports, according to Bolivia’s government.

The strike is currently holding up 300t of tin shipments and has cost Bolivia’s state-run Vinto tin smelter and Huanuni and Colquiri mines at least US$6.5mn in missed supply contracts, Mining Minister Cesar Navarro said.

“It’s not just the blockade of mining exports,” Navarro was cited as saying by state news agency BAI. “They’re hurting our long-term contracts.”

The land-locked Andean country makes exports through Chile’s Arica, Iquique and Antofagasta ports, all of which have been affected by the strike, which seeks to exert pressure for higher retirement benefits and fewer working hours.

“The strike in Chile prevents us from exporting our metallic tin to markets in the US and Germany,” President Evo Morales wrote on his Twitter account. “This hurts the country’s production and economy.”

Vinto, which is working on studies for a US$345mn expansion that would increase capacity to 62,000t/y, exported 13,111t of refined tin last year, compared with 12,106t in 2015, according to state mining company Comibol.

Comibol last year announced plans to invest 120mn bolivianos (US$17mn) in exploration this year as part of a government drive to invest US$1.965bn in the mining and metallurgical industries by 2020.

Comibol has been beset by problems over the past year, closing its Karachipampa silver-lead smelter and El Mutún iron ore mine due to technical problems and low metals prices at the time. In addition, Swiss trader Glencore last year also filed for arbitration against the Bolivian government for the expropriation of mining assets from 2007-2012.

Private investment has plummeted in Bolivia since Morales, who lost a bid to extend his mandate last year, seized mining operations from companies including Glencore, Jindal Steel and South American Silver since first taking office in 2006.

Source: (May 30, 2017) BN Americas

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