China's Sinosteel starts work at El Mutún

Work finally got underway on Bolivia's long-delayed US$546mn El Mutún iron and steel project after the government lined up sufficient initial funding.

Chinese concessionaire Sinosteel will build the 42-month project in five stages, President Evo Morales said at a ceremony in Puerto Suárez, Santa Cruz.

"So many attempts, rejected projects," Morales said in broadcast comments. "However, it is now time for Puerto Suárez to have its own iron industry."

Bolivia earlier this month secured US$56mn in funding from China's Eximbank, while the central bank put up US$9.9mn for the project, which is three years behind schedule.

El Mutún, the contract for which was awarded to Sinosteel in early 2016, holds an estimated 40Bt in reserves and the plant will have initial capacity of 194,000t/y of steel bars, according to the mining ministry.

The project, which seeks to save US$300mn/y in steel imports, will create 1,500 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs during construction and 600 direct and 1,200 indirect positions once operating, according to state miner Comibol. The complex, which will also include a pellet plant and a rolling mill, will be linked to a 15km, 700,000m3/d natural gas pipeline, a 120km water pipeline and a 105km highway.

The government also signed an accord earlier this month with the private sector to develop the US$450mn Puerto Busch river port project, which would be used to export steel from El Mutún. Puerto Busch connects to the Atlantic via the Paraguay-Paraná waterway.