That said, significant contracts have been signed with foreign mining companies and the very favourable price of numerous metals has nevertheless stimulated a significant revival in mining activity. In 2009, mining contributed to nearly 8% of gross domestic product, compared to 5% for hydrocarbons. Zinc extracted mainly from the deposits in San Cristobal (Sumitomo), Bolivar and a series of other deposits in the Oruro region (Sinchi Wayra - Glencore), was the main metal produced in terms of tonnes, which was greater than that of silver and tin. Significant investment projects in silver and tin have taken place, including the re-exploitation of Cerro Rico in Potosi by the Minera Manquiri company (Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp.) which should contribute to reducing the passive environment resulting from centuries of negligence and anarchic mining practices. A new tin smelter will also be installed this autumn in Vinto (Oruro) by the Australian company Ausmelt, which should increase tin production by 50%.

Projects in the province of Santa Cruz were marked by an upturn in gold mining activities by Don Mario (Orvana Minerals) and the promise of a US$2.1 billion investment in El Mutun by the Indian company Jindal Steel.

An element not to be taken lightly

Lithium is a silvery and highly malleable metal whose density is half that of water. Although long used only for fairly confidential applications in the field of lubricants and ceramics (Fig. 1), it is today classed among the most strategic elements for the development of future technologies. The European Union, concerned for the long term access to resources, has made it one of the critical elements of its strategy through the Raw Materials Initiative. It has to be said that the vision of entirely electric vehicles each equipped with more than 250kg of batteries is enough to provoke envy.

Lithium can be found in nature in the form of several minerals which are all mainly silicates (spodumene, petalite, lepidolite ...) and which are found in magmatic-type deposits. In other words, they are found in the form of veins in granite rocks which means they are difficult and costly to mine in galleries situated several hundreds of metres below ground. The deposits in North Carolina long contributed to world supply, before the interest in lithium in brines became apparent.

Until the 1980s the presence of lithium in interstitial waters in the salt lakes near volcanic chains went relatively unnoticed. However, the prospect of a growing need for lithium, initially for nuclear fusion and then for aeronautics led prospectors to look further afield.

In 1978, Erickson et al. published the first lithium content values measured in the Salar de Uyuni brines. They reported values of between 80 and 1,500 ppm.  A few years later, Risacher added twenty or so additional data in a report on the Bolivian salt lakes resources.  This study, funded by ORSTOM aimed mainly to look for formations which were rich in sodium carbonate and paid no specific attention to lithium. At this stage, no systemic exploitation was undertaken, but figures rapidly started to circulate, placing Bolivia largely at the forefront of the world's lithium resources. USGS reports from this time mention 5,4000,000 tonnes of lithium in the Bolivian sub-soil, which represented no less than half of the world’s known resources! For twenty years, these figures circulated without really being critically analysed, except that the most recent USGS reports carefully avoid to present these values as correctly estimated reserves in geological and technological terms. Consequently, in 2011, Bolivia no longer appeared in the world reserve tables, while Chile held 57%! Bolivia is however mentioned in a footnote as owning nine million tonnes of lithium ... while the official Bolivian Government site still puts forward the impressive figure that there are 140 million tonnes of recoverable lithium!