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MeneameWorkers from Bolivian borate and ulexite mining company Tierra have blockaded the railroad linking Bolivia and Chile in protest against mining taxes, a mining ministry official told BNamericas.
The railroad is principally used to ship borates from the Salar de Uyuni salt flats to Chile via the Rivarna/Ollagüe frontier crossing en route to the port of Antofagasta.
Officials at railroad operator Ferroviaria Andina (FCA) were unavailable for comment but a source at the company confirmed that the railroad is blocked. FCA is owned by Chilean company Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia.
In a letter to La Paz daily El Diario the protestors expressed their displeasure at a tax imposed on miners in the region following the revocation of a concession held by Non Metallic Minerals, a subsidiary of Chilean firm Quiborax.
"Instead of expelling the Chilean companies, [which the blockaders wanted the government to do] ..... the deputy mining minister, hit national companies by issuing rules that established a 5% tax on boric acid and borax," the letter to the newspaper said.
"Deputy mining minister Eduardo Gutiérrez is in the region dealing with the matter," the mining ministry spokesperson said.
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