Bolivian Mining Research Articles

Power and Portraiture in a Bolivian Mining Town

Power and Portraiture in a Bolivian Mining Town

A Natural Language Processing Approach to Social License Management

Dealing with the social and political impacts of large complex projects requires monitoring and responding to concerns from an ever-evolving network of stakeholders. This paper describes the use of text analysis algorithms to identify stakeholders’ concerns across the project life cycle. The social license (SL) concept has been used to monitor the level of social acceptance of a project. That acceptance can be assessed from the texts produced by stakeholders on sources ranging from social media to personal interviews. The same texts also contain information on the substance of stakeholders’ concerns. Until recently, extracting that information necessitated manual coding by humans, which is a method that takes too long to be useful in time-sensitive projects. Using natural language processing algorithms, we designed a program that assesses the SL level and identifies stakeholders’ concerns in a few hours. To validate the program, we compared it to human coding of interview texts from a Bolivian mining project from 2009 to 2018. The program’s estimation of the annual average SL was significantly correlated with rating scale measures. The topics of concern identified by the program matched the most mentioned categories defined by human coders and identified the same temporal trends.

Natural and anthropogenic controls on particulate metal(loid) deposition in Bolivian highland sediments, Lake Uru Uru (Bolivia)

Mining in the Bolivian Altiplano is important and has historically provided much of the world’s Ag, Sn, and Sb. This study aims to better understand the effects of important recent increases in Bolivian mining on the deposition of metals and metalloids in sediment near Oruro, Bolivia’s fifth largest city, with special attention to natural and anthropogenic factors as well as early diagenesis, which could have broader implications in other high-elevation environments that have or will be affected by increased mining activities. To better assess the depositional trends of elements in sediments, five sedimentary cores collected in Lake Uru Uru and the Cala Cala Lagoon (nearby Oruro) were studied and analysis of the physicochemical variables coupled with radiometric dating indicate that (a) sediment deposited in Lake Uru Uru was likely sourced from local outcrops of Tertiary volcanics, Paleozoic shales, and ore and waste piles from mining activities material; (b) sedimentation rates in Lake Uru Uru were close to 3 mm·year−1, 1 mm higher than the ancient Tauca paleolake (~11,000–30,000 years ago); (c) early diagenetic effects have affected the distribution of Mn, As, and Cd in the sedimentary archive; and (d) the deposition of Ag, Sb, and Pb in the studied sediment has largely been related to historical trends in Bolivian Sn mining methods and production.

Buying stability: The distributive outcomes of private politics in the Bolivian mining industry

Social movements and interest groups in developing countries increasingly challenge large firms to influence their behavior and make direct claims for redistribution of the gains from economic activity. In response to such private politics, firms seek to maintain political support in the localities in which they operate so that they can avoid conflict and secure access to resources. To secure local support and defuse opposition, some firms take actions that expand access to essential public goods, services, and economic opportunities, while others use targeted clientelistic benefits that reward only a few. What accounts for this variation? Answering this question is key to identifying the development consequences of private politics. This article explores this question through a study of multinational mining firms operating in Bolivia, drawing on qualitative data from interviews as well as an original household survey. It shows that the political structures and organization in the localities in which firms operate create distinct incentives for firms to distribute benefits in targeted or inclusive ways. This finding contributes to studies of the local politics of natural resources and firm responses to social contestation.

The Embodied Testimony of Domitila Chungara in <i>The Courage of the People</i> (Jorge Sanjinés, 1971)

Abstract. Awarded in Europe but censored in Bolivia during thirteen years, The Courage of the People (Jorge Sanjinés, Bolivia, 1971) is an outstanding example of Latin American collaborative political cinema. The film is an account of the massacre of St John’s eve in the Bolivian mining settlement of Siglo XX in 1967. But it also situates its background, through the mise-en-scène of representative community members’ life stories. Domitila Chungara was one of the characters selected to represent the collective; in her case, the organized housewives.This article analyses the range of testimonial bodily expressions captured in Domitila Chungara’s participation in the film: her fighting, maternal and suffering bodies. This performance constitutes her first public testimony that, remarkably, is a play-acting testimonio as opposed to the more common transcribed oral accounts that constitute this genre. The self-representation of Chungara and her comrades in the film breaks down the wall of silence that surrounded women’s body-based political practices in the public sphere and gives value to their body-based political culture, instrumental in understanding Bolivian politics in the last century.

Metal-contaminated potato crops and potential human health risk in Bolivian mining highlands.

This study assessed metals in irrigation water, soil and potato crops impacted by mining discharges, as well as potential human health risk in the high desert near the historic mining center of Potosí, Bolivia. Metal concentrations were compared with international concentration limit guidelines. In addition, an ingested average daily dose and minimum risk level were used to determine the hazard quotient from potato consumption for adults and children. Irrigation water maximum concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in mining-impacted sites were elevated 20- to 1100-fold above international concentration limit guidelines. Agricultural soils contained total metal concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Zn that exceeded concentration limits in agricultural soil guidelines by 22-, 9-, 3- and 12-fold, respectively. Potato tubers in mining-impacted sites had maximum concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Zn that exceeded concentration limits in commercially sold vegetables by 9-, 10-, 16- and fourfold, respectively. Using conservative assumptions, hazard quotients (HQ) for potatoes alone were elevated for As, Cd and Pb among children (range 1.1-71.8), in nearly all of the mining-impacted areas; and for As and Cd among adults (range 1.2-34.2) in nearly all of the mining-impacted areas. Only one mining-impacted area had a Pb adult HQ for potatoes above 1 for adults. Toxic trace elements in a major regional dietary staple may be a greater concern than previously appreciated. Considering the multitude of other metal exposure routes in this region, it is likely that total HQ values for these metals may be substantially higher than our estimates.

Canadian Mining Interests in Bolivia, 1985–2015: Trajectories of Failures, Successes, and Violence

Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in and concern about the actions of Canadian mining companies in Latin America. In this article we contribute to these debates by combining economic, social, and political analyses to examine the development of the Canadian government and the role of Canadian‐headquartered companies in Bolivia's mining industry. First, we review the influence of the Canadian government's development assistance on Bolivian mining policy. Second, we analyze the characteristics of Canadian FDI and its effects on the Bolivian mining sector. We argue that the economic effects of Canadian mining companies in Bolivia have been less than significant. We consider it a failed attempt, since our data suggests that the Canadian government attempted to “make Bolivia work” for mining companies. Finally, we illustrate the specific trajectories of Canadian mining companies with four brief case studies, two mines in operation, and two “failed attempts.” In the first two case studies we examine the development and accumulation of capital. In the second two cases, we focus on the social conflicts, which arose around the exploration activities of two junior mining companies. We argue that junior companies are important to consider when surveying the Canadian government's role in the country.

Cooperative miners and the politics of abandonment in Bolivia

In Bolivia, cooperative activities wield significant influence over national mining politics. They have become a powerful representational voice for the mining sector, generally supporting, rather than opposing, foreign investment. I use examples from cooperative partnerships with the transnational mining company, Coeur Mines, and draw on newly-released census data and findings from several visits to Bolivian underground mines to demonstrate how cooperative mining realities are intricately linked to those of the private and State-owned sectors. I argue that the historical development of cooperative miners, coupled with their experiences of poverty and exploitation, has shaped their experiences with, and thus reactions to, foreign investors following neoliberal restructuring. I conclude the article by drawing attention to the recent general strikes in Potosi as a way of challenging how much the situation has really changed for Bolivian mining cooperatives since the election of Evo Morales.

Limits to “counter-neoliberal” reform: Mining expansion and the marginalisation of post-extractivist forces in Evo Morales’s Bolivia

The expansion of resource extractivism in Latin America in the last decade has been related to previous neoliberalisation processes, which opened-up mineral exploitation to transnational firms and granted investors favourable conditions. Extractivism, however, expanded equally (or more) in countries which have undertaken “counter-neoliberal” reform—as it is most clearly the case for Evo Morales’s Bolivia. Building on regulationist approaches and strategic-relational state theory, this paper analyses recent changes in the governance of Bolivian mining. It contributes to understanding how and why the Morales governments’ objectives to initiate a transition towards a more plural and diversified economy—informed by social movements—have not been achieved to date. We make three interrelated claims. First, the expansion of mining has been enabled by the maintaining of institutional arrangements for mineral exploitation established during neoliberalism, favouring transnational firms and self-employed (“cooperative”) miners over state-owned and community-managed operations. Second, despite the new government’s improved legal framework for the promotion of environmental and indigenous rights, the mining sector has continued to benefit from de facto lax environmental regulation, which constitutes an indirect incentive to expansion at the expense of ecologies and indigenous–peasant livelihoods. Third, the state has played a central role in weakening social resistance to mining expansion, by demobilising those social forces—particularly peasant–indigenous organisations—whose proposals and demands conflicted most clearly with extractivist development. We suggest, therefore, that analysing changing state–society relations is central to understanding the counter-neoliberalisation of resource governance and its limits.

Toxic trace elements in maternal and cord blood and social determinants in a Bolivian mining city

This study assessed lead, arsenic, and antimony in maternal and cord blood, and associations between maternal concentrations and social determinants in the Bolivian mining city of Oruro using the baseline assessment of the ToxBol/Mine-Niño birth cohort. We recruited 467 pregnant women, collecting venous blood and sociodemographic information as well as placental cord blood at birth. Metallic/semimetallic trace elements were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Lead medians in maternal and cord blood were significantly correlated (Spearman coefficient = 0.59; p < 0.001; 19.35 and 13.50 μg/L, respectively). Arsenic concentrations were above detection limit (3.30 μg/L) in 17.9 % of maternal and 34.6 % of cord blood samples. They were not associated (Fischer’s p = 0.72). Antimony medians in maternal and cord blood were weakly correlated (Spearman coefficient = 0.15; p < 0.03; 9.00 and 8.62 μg/L, respectively). Higher concentrations of toxic elements in maternal blood were associated with maternal smoking, low educational level, and partner involved in mining.

Child patterns of growth delay and cognitive development in a bolivian mining city

This study aims to (1) follow up and characterize infant growth patterns during the first year of life in Bolivia, and (2) determine whether there exists an association between weight gain and cognitive development in children living near contaminated mining industries. Data on 175 children participating to the ToxBol (Toxicity in Bolivia) birth cohort were analyzed. Rapid-growth during the first 6 months was defined as a change in weight z-score > 0.67 while slow-growth was defined as a weight z-score change of < -0.67. Neurodevelopment was evaluated using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 10.5-12.5 months of age. Mixed models were used to examine the association between cognitive development and weight gain. Rapid growers weighed less at birth (P < 0.01). However, they revealed a higher body mass index at 12 months of age (0.70 ± 0.73, P < 0.01). After adjustment for confounding, rapid growth was not associated with cognitive development (coef = 0.49, 95% confidence interval = -4.10, 5.08). In this Bolivian cohort, children born smaller were more likely to grow/develop faster and attain greater weight and length. Their cognitive development was not affected by their growth patterns.

Maintaining Standards

This article explores the need to establish an engineering maintenance management system and presents a case study of the same at Minera San Cristobal S.A. (MSC), a Bolivian mining company owned by Sumitomo Corp. Plant operational reliability elements are design, equipment, processes, and people. The company developed a format for maintenance management key performance indicators; for instance, comparing scheduled and unscheduled work orders or equipment availability vs. operational availability. These helped in measuring the performance of the equipment on which preventive maintenance had been performed. Within a short period of time, MSC has shown remarkable improvement. Early in 2009, the company had faced bankruptcy, and has now returned to profitability. The establishment of an engineering maintenance management system has produced change and growth, has raised the company’s standards, and has advanced MSC toward its goal to become a world-class company.

Child neurodevelopment in a Bolivian mining city

This study evaluates the neurodevelopment of children living near contaminated mining industries during their first year of life. Participants from the city of Oruro (Bolivia) were prospectively recruited during pregnancy. Follow-up occurred between May 2007 and November 2009. Information about the socioeconomic status and medical history of the pregnant women were collected using questionnaires. Neurodevelopment was evaluated for 246 children using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) at 10.5–12.5 months of age. Exposure to trace elements (Pb, As, Cd, Sb, Cs, Zn, Fe, Cu, Se, Rb, and Sr) during prenatal life was evaluated by testing maternal blood concentrations before delivery. Almost all measured levels were lower than the control limits. The blood lead concentration of pregnant women was low, considering the contaminated environmental context. The geometric mean was 1.76μg/dL (95% CI: 1.68–1.84), a level comparable with those observed in non-contaminated areas. The only element found to be relatively elevated was antimony, with a geometric mean of 1.03μg/dL (95% CI: 0.96–1.11). Our results suggest that women from this mining area were not highly exposed. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) did not reveal mental or psychomotor abnormalities. Surprisingly, at the observed low levels, lead was positively associated with the children's BSID performance.

THE NEW BOLIVIAN MINING CODE

As of 1952, and well into the 80's, the Bolivian mining industry's main characteristic was its ownership, the State; which played a protectionist and leading role in pro­ duction. Under this model, all regulations related to mining property were focused to guarantee a fast, easy access by Corporaci Un Minera de Bolivia, COMIBOL (Bolivian Mining State Corporation) to the lands mineral resources, thus giving the Corporation a limitless operational frame, and allowing it to perform its main objective as the main source of mining production. Juridical security of private mining ownership, was indeed a secondary objective. Large mineralised areas of the Bolivian land, were assigned to COMIBOL by the State; all these land allo­ cations had a 5 km security border zone (approximately 8.06 miles) within which, private rights to ownership were banned. Juridical regulations on Fiscal reserves were created parallel to the Mining Code which was current at the time, and which covered more than 70% of the total mineralized areas of the country, thus, private access to such territories were only available through concessional rights through concession-contract and leasing agreements — for limited periods of time. Un­ der such conditions, Bolivia marched into the 1980s with a negative growth rate, based on low investments — especially, in exploration — a growing technological delay, intensive use of labor, insufficient management capacity, a limited access to finance, and in general, very low; which was covered at that time by high mineral and metal prices in the international market. The fall of metal and mineral prices in the International Market, which took place at the end of 1985, triggered the fall of the State protectionist model, and the virtual bankruptcy of the Bolivian Mining Corporation which came to an accumulated deficit of about 700 million dollars (1980-1985), not withstanding the losses of the state smelting plant which had reached over 300 million during the same period. Mining exports started to be severely undermined with its logical negative impact on tax revenues, which in turn undermined the economies of the metal and mineral producing areas; this led to the consequent loss of legitimacy of Mining vis-vis the civil population. Facing exhaustion and unfeasibility, the States protectionist model, had to be reformed. The need of a profound structural reform in the Bolivian mining sector required the

Environment versus Investment: The Bolivian Mining Industry

Sustainable development and mining recovery are two objectives of the Bolivian government today. These objectives, however, cancel one another out when they are combined with the Bolivian privatization plan. We illustrate this phenomenon by analyzing how the government managed a case in which antimony concentrates were denounced as hazardous in July of 1994. From the facts of this case, wefound three misconceptions underlying the conflict between sustainable development and the recovery of the mining industry: poverty versus clean environment, mining investment versus environmental protection, and competitiveness versus environmental costs. We show that these misconceptions are manifested in the long-term environmental action plan of the Secretariat of Environment, and we contrast this approach with that of the Thai government.

Interpreting social movements: Bolivian resistance to economic conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund

Interpretive anthropology taken as a goal in itself tends to preclude the concrete, historically situated analyses that are the core of ethnographic studies. However, attention to specific aspects of action and discourse in the various moments of a social movement's unfolding may enhance our understanding of that movement. This article analyzes a protest against conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund for the payment of Bolivia's national debt, seeking to show how the various participants interpreted the events in which they were involved. In trying to assess the movement's impact on the nation, the author interviewed leaders and followers and consulted numerous media reports during the three weeks of crisis. She concludes that textual interpretation is useful only when employed along with traditional methods of participant observation and the eliciting of informants' own interpretations. The analysis of complex social movements, that is, requires a description of people's responses at different moments in time, a situating of the participant observer in the events, and the inclusion of interpretations by the media. By eliciting a reflexive, multivocalic array of texts, the anthropologist can make new interpretations and build on past constructions as the historical context changes. [interpretive ethnology, social movements, Bolivian mining communities]

The Bolivian mining crisis

The paper analyses the demise of Bolivia as a tin mining economy. It describes the contradiction between the state requiring COMIBOL, the public mining company, to maximize employment, production and surplus extraction at the national level, at the expense of developing an efficient corporate strategy at the firm level. A case study of the mining operation Colquiri illustrates in microcosm how the state evolved an autonomous bureaucrary – COMIBOL - which was encouraged to maximize production at the expense of the costs of doing so, regardless of the downward spiralling of metal prices and global stockpiling of tin. Central to the argument is the development of the concept of a modo de ser of COMIBOL or a pattern of corporate behaviour. The technological, social and organizational dynamics of COMIBOL'S behaviour are analysed in the context of changing national political environments and international market pressures, culminating in the crash of the tin market in 1985. Finally, the paper builds on this analysis to draw out implications for the future development of Bolivia's mining industry, since the country still possesses considerable mineral resources – in gold, silver and zinc as well as tin, and underutilized expertise. Policy options are discussed which include newly announced proposals for joint ventures with foreign mining companies.

Mahmood Ali Ayub and Hideo Hashimoto. The Economics of Tin Mining in Bolivia. Washington, D.C.: World Bank 1985.

The Bolivian economy is a textbook case of the distortions produced by an enclave of mineral production, mainly tin, and its political life has largely focused on the problem of ensuring that the mining industry plays a constructive role in national economic development. Bolivia was not able to force the private owners of the major mines to make such a contribution and as a result their properties were nationalized in the Revolution of 1952, and have since been operated by a State owned corporation, COMIBOL. Although the mines had long been starved of fresh investment, the political economy of the Revolution further stripped resources from the mining sector in order to diversify the economy, and the economic crisis that was then generated forced serious attention on the technical operation of the industry. Over the past thirty years there have been several attempts to rehabilitate the nationalized mining industry, drawing on the expertise of foreign technical staff, and on foreign private and public capital which have generated a large number of studies and much internal political controversy. This book by two World Bank economists is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the issues facing those responsible for formulating a policy for Bolivian mining which is based on some reliable statistics. It is theoretically and historically informed, and, most importantly, though sensitive to the intensely political nature of the problem, has no political axe of its own to grind.

Commodity policies in Bolivia

Abstract Mining has historically been the backbone of the Bolivian economy. However, the present crisis in the world economy and structural changes in many metals consuming industries have led to a dramatic decline for the Bolivian mining industry, and thus for the national economy. In this article Theo Mutter gives a background to the crisis in Bolivian mining and argues for the necessity of a radical departure from the present resource-based economy.

Technical and Economic Efficiency of Peasant Miners in Bolivia

Previous articleNext article No AccessTechnical and Economic Efficiency of Peasant Miners in BoliviaRicardo A. GodoyRicardo A. Godoy Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 34, Number 1Oct., 1985 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/451511 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 7Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1985 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Andrea Marston Vertical farming: tin mining and agro-mineros in Bolivia, The Journal of Peasant Studies 47, no.44 (Jun 2019): 820–840.https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2019.1604511Agata Mazzeo The temporalities of asbestos mining and community activism, The Extractive Industries and Society 5, no.22 (Apr 2018): 223–229.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.02.004Kirsten Francescone Cooperative miners and the politics of abandonment in Bolivia, The Extractive Industries and Society 2, no.44 (Dec 2015): 746–755.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2015.10.004W. H. J. Strosnider, F. S. Llanos López, R. W. Nairn Acid mine drainage at Cerro Rico de Potosí I: unabated high-strength discharges reflect a five century legacy of mining, Environmental Earth Sciences 64, no.44 (Mar 2011): 899–910.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-0996-xRini Soemarwoto, Roy Ellen Gold Mining and Changing Perceptions of Risk in West Java, Human Organization 69, no.33 (Sep 2010): 233–241.https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.69.3.gk887801m1476105Raymond E. Dumett Sources for Mining Company History in Africa: The History and Records of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (Ghana), Ltd., Business History Review 62, no.33 (Jun 2012): 502–515.https://doi.org/10.2307/3115546Ricardo Godoy Production Strategies of Bolivian Miners: Methodological and Empirical Considerations, Human Organization 46, no.11 (Mar 1987): 48–54.https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.46.1.86r443q51932861l