El Mutún

"El Cerro Mutún" (Spanish for "the Mountain Mutún") is the world's largest iron ore deposit [cite web|url=http://www.mindat.org/loc-65228.html|title=Serrania Mutun, Chiquitos Province, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia|publisher=mindat.org|accessdate=2006-10-20] . Located in the Germán Busch Province in the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia, near Puerto Suárez, it extends across the border into Brazil, where it is called the "Serrania de Jacadigo". Also known as the "Serrania Mutún", it has an area of about 75 square kilometers. Its estimated reserves are about 40.205 billion (40.205 × 10⁹) tons of iron ore [cite web|url=http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press863.htm|title=Will Evo stick?|accessdate=2008-03-29|publisher=Mines and Communities Website] of 50% iron, mainly in hematite and magnetite form, and in lesser quantities in siderite and manganese minerals. This can be compared with an estimate of the total world reserves of iron ore: 800 billion tons of crude ore containing more than 230billion tons of iron [cite web|url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_ore/340397.pdf|title=IRON ORE|accessdate=2006-10-20|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program] .

Although it is not yet significantly worked because of its remoteness from industrial centers, EBX Brazilian company had a project to create a foundry there. However, the project was blocked by president Evo Morales because of environmental concerns; instead of using natural gas available from a pipeline 20 km away, vegetable carbon was to be used for the foundry, demanding 45 hectares a day of Amazonian wood [ es icon [http://www.bolpress.com/articulo.php?Cod=2006010103 Bolivia: El bocado de "El Mutún" - Bolpress] ] . Despite this, EBX started working anyway before obtaining its licence, under the name of MXX. The Bolivian Ministry of Defence declared that "various irregularities and constitutional violations" had been observed.

On April 19, 2006, the Bolivian army freed three government ministers who had been taken hostage by villagers demanding the immediate opening of all EBX's installations [ fr icon Cite news | title=Libération de trois ministres boliviens pris en otage par des villageois | publisher=Le Monde | date=2006-04-19 | accessdate=2006-04-19 | url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3222,36-763116@51-763324,0.html ] .

In 2007, India's third largest steel manufacturer, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, signed a contract with the Bolivian government to exploit the Mutun iron ore deposit. According to the contract, Jindal would invest US$ 1.5 billion initially and an additional US$ 2.5 billion over the next eight years. This is the single largest investment by an Indian firm in Latin America. [ [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22858026-5005200,00.html India's Bolivian ore | The Australian ] ] The mining is expected to create 6,000 jobs directly and another 15,000 indirectly. The Indian company projects handling 25 million tonnes of minerals per day. [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gVpRQ9-JLWmbpxT08MJw-E5yxQBw AFP: Bolivia OKs Indian firm to mine vast iron deposit ] ] Through this deal, Bolivia's government has shown its intent to decrease its economic reliance on Brazil and United States and develop closer ties with other major economic powers.

References

External links

* [http://www.mindat.org/loc-65228.html "Serrania Mutún" at mindat.org]