‘Mining in Bolivia produces both a sense of nationalism — and deep inequalities’

Andrea Marston teaches geography at Rutgers University. She spoke to Srijana Mitra Das at TE about the antecedents — and future — of the rich minerals found across Bolivia:
My research is about the political economy and sociocultural dimensions of natural resource governance,’ says Andrea Marston. She smiles and explains, ‘What that means is I study both how macro-level economic dynamics, like natural resource markets and demand, influence political decision-making at multiple scales as well as how natural resource governance is shaped by local histories and cultural practices — these are very influential when nations think about resources.’
AN ODD PALETTE: Salt pans offer minerals (Credit: Getty Images and iStock)

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Login to view resultMarston focuses on Bolivia, particularly small-scale tin mining in its highland reaches. This has a long and layered history. She says, ‘Mining went on here before the colonial era, from the time of the Incas — but the chase for minerals really grew on a massive scale when the Spanish arrived in the mid-1500s. That colonial history meant Bolivia was seen as ‘a mining country’ — it impacted how its people see themselves and their relationship with the land.’ This took on different aspects. Marston says, ‘Since the early 20th century, mining was wrapped up with a sense of nationalism — there was also unionisation in the industry, many miners playing a very important part in the 1952 national revolution. This led to the nationalising of mining, especially tin. Nationalism around mining, the idea that these mineral resources were Bolivia’s and foreigners had unjustly taken them, made mining seem like a natural process here, something to be proud of — it still influences how many Bolivians think of their future. A lot of planning around a productive economy is based on finding new areas with natural resources or developing technologies to better exploit known mineral sites.’IMMENSE: The Salar de Uyuni salt pan in Bolivia is a natural wonder, sprawled over 11,000 sq kms, this prehistoric lakebed part of the Lithium Triangle, key to the energy transition (Credit: Getty Images and iStock)

This rich history has produced several players. ‘Bolivia has three constitutionally recognised actors in mining or people who have the legal right to mine — these are the state corporation, private companies and mining cooperatives, which are groups of small-scale miners not employed by the state or companies. They work as collectives but they don’t necessarily share profits or expenses. They get a concession as a group but the miners then work individually.’ Often, there is inequity, literally as tall as a mountain, among these interests. Marston explains, ‘The three groups frequently compete over mineral deposits, trying to access the richest ores — sometimes, these are placed vertically, so a richer ore body could have more silver or tin much lower down with an upper deposit of minerals which isn’t so rich. So, you could see the land divided vertically between these differ ent groups — conflicts often occur if the cooperative miners, for instance, have the upper level which isn’t so rich and they go down to dig into a part of the mountain which isn’t technically part of their concession. This is considered theft and earlier, it’s sparked violent clashes between private and cooperative interests.’

All is not equal within the cooperative groups either. Marston writes of differing access — and exposure — in these. She says, ‘Within the cooperative structure, the people who get access to the best ore quality are often descendants of former state-employed miners, while people who could get access to the worst qualities of deposits are newly arrived miners, workers from indigenous communities — and women. This means inequality in profits as well as harms since you have to use a lot more chemicals to concentrate lower-quality ore. Higher-quality ore can be ground-up or you can use gravity-based separation systems to extract the tin from it but ore with more sulphur means a miner has to chemically separate minerals. This means an unequal level of exposure for people from indigenous communities, women or new arrivals who have no prior networks in these mines.’

The exposure spreads from humans to landscapes. Marston describes, ‘The main impact of mining is through water — you need a huge amount of water to process minerals and separate rich ore from waste rock. This draws away water from local rivers and aquifers. The water becomes contaminated and is acidified by chemicals, making it useless for anyone. Another major impact is land use change — large-scale mines transform vast areas. They release carbon emissions through fossil fuel-based extractive machinery and transport, cause massive deforestation and generate waste — for every gram of gold produced, there is 20 to 100 times the waste rock. This is often just dumped in a heap,’ says Marston, inspiring a compelling image for the next time one reaches for a slim and elegant ornament.

The ecological harms of chasing minerals also extend from traditional commodities — into the ultra-modern green transition. Marston explains, ‘South America is very rich in the rare or critical minerals which are central now for the global energy transition. One of these, lithium, is found in very high quantities in an area termed ‘the Lithium Triangle’ between Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Lithium is used in ion batteries which power computers, cellphones, renewable power storage and electric vehicles. Lithium itself is a tricky mineral and there isn’t currently a good recycling infrastructure for it. This means a huge amount is getting mined now — this is done from underneath salt flats,’ Marston describes. ‘A brine with lithium gets pumped up from under a thick salty crust — this messes up the underground freshwater, causing huge water losses and generating wastes.’ Given how many important minerals are held by these areas — from tin and zinc in Bolivia to copper in Chile and Peru and more — it is only logical to expect further mining booms here in the coming years.

TAILING US: The pond returns of mining ( Credit: Getty Images and iStock)

Interestingly, as Marston points out, the search for minerals is also driven by economic policies made far away, grand strategies chalked out in lofty halls, translating down to people seeking these riches in forests and streams close to home. She says, ‘With my new project on gold mining in the Amazonian part of Bolivia, I’ve been thinking about how macro-level monetary policy impacts mining. As an example, many countries often prioritise central bank purchases of gold as protection against geopolitical crises — these then drive huge surges in gold prices. That resonates in different parts of the world, including small-scale mining in Bolivia. Due to its history of mining cooperatives being legal entities, it’s easier in Bolivia for small gold miners to collectivise and begin mining in parts which have little or no earlier history of mining. This is driving the expansion of gold mining in Amazonia now and it’s important,’ Marston emphasises, ‘That we all trace the route between macro-level monetary policies and the ecological and other impacts this can have at groundlevel in the lives of miners.’