As this news service reported on July 14, Bolivia’s Mining and Metallurgy Ministry announced July 7 that six of the seven plants of the large Mutún steel complex, under construction in the southeastern part of Bolivia’s department of Santa Cruz, will officially begin operations in September. This project, overseen by the Mutún Steel Company (ESM) in conjunction with China’s Sinosteel Co., will be processing and industrializing 40 billion tons of iron ore, the largest reserves in the world. This flagship project defies the neocolonial practice of foreign powers seizing the natural wealth of developing nations, of which Bolivia has been a victim for well over 200 years, and instead industrializing it—now with China’s help—for the benefit of Bolivia’s people, its economy, and its future.
Another aspect to this is that the ESM’s website reported April 30 that its President Jorge Alvarado Rivas had visited the Vetorial steel complex, which is industrializing iron ore on the Brazilian side of the border, just across from Mutún. In effect, both countries share the iron ore of “Cerro Mutún” (Mutún Mountain), although the largest quantity is on the Bolivian side. Vetorial was founded 55 years ago in 1969 and is the only company in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul which produces pig iron. Last year it produced 470,000 tons, of which it exported 400,000 tons. It also has offices elsewhere in Brazil.
During his July 9 trip to Bolivia to meet with President Luis Arce, Brazilian President Lula da Silva brought several cabinet ministers with him to meet with their Bolivian counterparts and sign several agreements for economic cooperation and infrastructure building, especially as it related to regional integration. Both nations’ mining ministers also met at length. Alvarado explained that the purpose of the visit to Vetorial was to establish “strategic alliances, exchange information and look at the possibility of purchasing pig iron.” The most important part of this visit, he said, “is strengthening ties with Vetorial, because we see that we can work together on many things, establish alliances for example, regarding the sale of the product … to export our product together in greater quantity with Vetorial.”
