Corporación Minera de Bolivia
The Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) is the state mining company of Bolivia , which has existed since 1952 . COMIBOL owns tin mines in Huanuni ( Siglo XX ) and Catavi .
COMIBOL was founded in 1952 from the three largest tin companies in Bolivia. It included 21 mining companies, several spare parts factories, power plants, farms, a railroad, and other agencies. The company also provided school facilities for over 60,000 children, living quarters for mining families and hospitals. In 1986 COMIBOL was divided into 5 semi-autonomous companies. In the mid-1990s, COMIBOL was closed due to falling tin prices, leaving over 90% of employees unemployed. After that, the mines were managed by independent miners' cooperatives. After the mines were re-nationalized, there were serious conflicts in October 2006 between COMIBOL miners and the independent miners' cooperatives in the Huanuni mine ( Black October ), in which 18 people were killed and 80 were seriously injured.
In 2008 COMIBOL got an additional department for lithium extraction from the Salar de Uyuni salt lake .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Country Studies - Mining
- ↑ Detlev Urban: The betrayal of the president Die Zeit, September 20, 2007
- ↑ Florian Quitzsch: Bolivia and lithium: the entry into the post-petroleum age? In: Quetzal. September 2009, accessed April 3, 2011 .