Bolivia cracks down on mineral theft following Huanuni blast

Bolivia arrested three people in a massive raid in the central Andes after last week's blast at the Huanuni tin mine, which left eight workers dead and a dozen injured.

Bolivian mining federation officials claimed the explosion was set off by thieves known locally as jukus in reprisal for tighter controls aimed at preventing mineral theft from the underground mine located in Oruro department.

The operation, which involved over 1,200 police officers and 300 soldiers, seized 3.2t of stolen tin ore, tear gas grenades, dynamite, fuses and fuel after searching 140 properties in four towns in Oruro, state mining company Comibol said in a statement.

The police operations will continue until the continuous mineral theft known as jukeo is halted, said Guillermo Dalence, CEO of Comibol's Empresa Minera Huanuni (EMH) unit. The Huanuni mine was shut for two days last week, costing an estimated US$200,000 in lost production, according to the company.

Mineral theft at the mine, declared to be in a state of emergency last year, is costing the company an estimated 2mn bolivianos (US$280,000) a month, equivalent to about a third of its production.

Huanuni's 150-strong security force and 40 policemen are insufficient to deal with the mounting numbers of mineral thieves, Comibol CEO José Pimentel said.

"Theft has grown a great deal," Pimentel said in the statement. "We're looking for more effective measures as there are groups of up to 100 people who enter the mine to steal the ore."

The police operation also discovered unauthorized ore treatment plants in the area after setting up control posts in the towns of Huayrapata and Cataricagua, newspaper La Razón reported. The government has identified 30 criminal rings involved in mineral theft in the area, it added.

Comibol said it will investigate the cause of the explosion, which adds to a host of problems at the company in recent years. Comibol closed both the Karachipampa and Vinto smelters as well as its El Mutún iron-steel company due to technical problems and falling metals prices.

Operations at Huanuni were also halted by a strike in July 2017 as workers protested against plans to reduce the company's workforce and charge more for electricity. Comibol was working on a new US$50mn processing plant to double Huanuni's processing capacity to 3,000t/d. Huanuni produced 7,084t tin in 2016, down from 7,695t in 2015, according to the company's website.