After repeated delays, Bolivian President Luis Arce today officially inaugurated the magnificent Mutún Steel complex, located in Puerto Suárez in the southeastern department (state) of Santa Cruz. Due to dangerous forest fires and a difficult internal political situation, the original inauguration date of Sept. 21-22, 2024 had to be postponed; but today, cabinet members, local and state authorities and proud steel workers gathered to hear the President praise this extraordinary achievement which will allow Bolivia, for the first time in its history, to produce steel for internal consumption to further the country’s industrialization. Arce said: “Brothers and sisters, the Bolivian people are made of steel. We Bolivians have proven that we are made of steel and will continue fighting and making more history because Bolivia must become that country we have dreamed of,” Los Tiempos reported him saying. What has been accomplished so far is only the first phase of a greater project, he continued, “to become the economic leader of our region because we have what is very important, natural resources that we want to industrialize.”
Built by China’s Sinosteel Equipment and Engineering Co. and the Bolivian government, for $546 million, Mutún is the first joint project of the Belt and Road Initiative, billed as the “star project of the Bicentennial,” which Bolivia will celebrate on Aug. 6, 2025. It will process the vast iron ore reserves on “Mutún mountain” (estimated at 43 billion tons), to initially produce 3,000 tons of steel a month, with an annual goal of 200,000 tons. This will reduce by half its current annual imports of 450,000 tons and shave $250,000 off its import bill. Managed by the Mutún Steel Co. (ESM), the seven plants of the project will be fully operational by April.
