Huanuni miners demand US$38mn payment from Vinto

Employees of Bolivian state miner Empresa Minera Huanuni (EMH) have threatened to take over facilities at the Vinto metallurgical complex (CMV) to demand a US$38mn payment they say CMV owes for tin concentrates, Alfredo Zaconeta, an official at Bolivia's mining and metallurgy ministry told BNamericas. "But the first meetings have been held between the parties and there is hope that they will reach an agreement soon about a timeline for paying that debt," he said. On Wednesday morning, a group of employees arrived at Vinto - Bolivia's largest tin foundry - to demand payment of the debt, "but we aren't talking about a takeover because they were interested in discussing the issue," Zaconeta said. Local press reported that EMH's 4,600 employees halted activities during three shifts to demand payment of the debt. In September, CMV restricted its purchase of Huanuni's tin ore to 600t/m over a two-month period in a move to avoid increasing its debt with the miner, which then hovered at roughly US$33mn. At the time, the country's mining and metals minister Luis Alberto Echazú said an agreement was already in place for Vinto to pay its debt in three parts and the company was expected to catch up entirely by November. CMV currently produces 800t/m of fine tin and plans to reach a rate of 1,000t/m this year after upgrades to the plant. The company is also expanding its operations into the treatment of other minerals like zinc, copper and bismuth.