Bolivia bets on construction of zinc refinery with support from China

Bolivia is betting on the project to build a zinc refinery in the department of Oruro (west) with the support of China, an undertaking that will apply the pressure leaching method to obtain this metal, reported this Thursday the Minister of Mining and Metallurgy, Ramiro Villavicencio.

In addition, he reported that the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, instructed the Ministry of Mining to carry out the respective studies for the installation of another zinc plant in the department of Potosí (southwest).

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Villavicencio commented to journalists at a press conference that the Bolivian Government awaits the approval of the financing of US$350 million for the location of the Zinc Refining Plant in Oruro.

“We hope that, in the course of the next few days, this investment will be approved (…) and once we have it, the consolidated project will be executed in the course of two years and six months, approximately,” he declared.

The minister reported that last week a commission of “first-level technicians” from the China Cooperation Agency and the China Export-Import Bank (China Eximbank) was in Bolivia.

This delegation visited the plants of the Colquiri and Bolívar mining companies, located in the department of Oruro, to certify and guarantee the financing for the construction of the Zinc Refining Plant.

The delegation also met with authorities from the Ministries of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Environment and Water, Labor and other “important” ministries.

“This venture is focused on our Social Productive Community Economic Model on the issue of industrialization, import substitution and above all on generating added value,” he commented.

According to the report of this ministry, this refinery will have a treatment capacity of 150,000 tons of zinc concentrates.

“The objective of the plant is not only to obtain metallic zinc, but also to recover all the added values ​​as by-products, we are talking about silver, tin, lead, but the most important thing is the industrial metals that we are also going to recover such as indium, gallium, germanium, among others that are in great demand in the international market,” he emphasized.

For the minister, the development of this project is of great importance due to the production capacities of the South American country.

According to Villavicencio’s explanation, the report of the Chinese technical commission is a preliminary step for the approval of the China Eximbank loan, which, in his opinion, will allow the consolidation of the investment of US$350 million for the construction of the Zinc Refinery in Oruro.

With information from Xinhua