Iron ore exports from El Mutún halted due to low water levels on Paraguay river

Iron ore exports from the El Mutún deposit in Bolivia's Santa Cruz department have been halted due to the low level of the Paraguay river, an official from the mining and metallurgy ministry (MMM) told BNamericas. "That was the conclusion of the report prepared by the team of experts that evaluated the situation," the official said. Exports have not been halted due to state steel company ESM's inefficiency, which is what the local community in Santa Cruz believes, but rather because of navigation problems on the Paraguay river's Tamengo canal. This route will be unusable for the rest of the year and exports can only resume in 2012, according to the official. "ESM is very interested in exporting because we have a contract with [Paraguayan steelmaker] Acepar," MMM minister José Pimentel told local press. PROTESTS Despite the fact that the stoppage is due to the low water level, the civic committee for Puerto Suárez municipality is organizing demonstrations to protest. "Apart from taking away from royalties for Puerto Suárez, the ban on exports puts jobs at risk and more than 300 families could be left homeless," committee president Antonio Tudela was quoted as saying by state news agency ABI. At the beginning of October, ESM shipped the first 10,000t of iron ore from El Mutún to Acepar. The ore was transported from the Puerto Aguirre port via the Paraguay-Paraná waterway. ESM and state miner Comibol have a JV with India's Jindal Steel & Power to develop 50% of the deposit and build a steel plant. El Mutún is located in a 65km2 area of Santa Cruz's German Busch province and has 40Bt in reserves grading 50% iron ore.