The value of Bolivia's minerals exports dropped 13% year on year to $377.3 million in March due to declining metals prices and operations closures, the government said Wednesday.
Zinc concentrate exports fell 12.6% year on year to $177 million, while silver dropped 10% to $136 million and copper plummeted 60% to $6.2 million in March, the National Statistics Institute said in a statement.
Gold exports plunged 42.7% to $4.6 million in March, while tungsten and antimony both fell by half to $3.4 million and $800,000, respectively, it said. Lead rose 22% to $37.7 million, while tin slid 1.6% to $3.7 million.
The value of refined gold exports, which are reported separately, declined 4.6% year on year to $173 million, the agency said. Refined silver fell 22.4% to $18.6 million, while copper cathodes gained 8% to $1.3 million, according to the agency. Refined tin dropped 11% to $65.2 million, while antimony dropped 67% to $2.4 million.
State-owned mining company Comibol shut down its Karachipampa silver-lead smelter in December due to technical problems.
The value of Bolivia's total exports fell 30.6% to $1.62 billion from $2.33 billion a year earlier.
Bolivia, which is home to mines operated by Pan American Silver, Sumitomo, Coeur Mining, Orvana Minerals and Franklin Mining, produced 19,287 mt of tin, 407,332 mt of zinc, 82,131 mt of lead, 7,549 mt of copper and 41.2 million oz of silver in 2013, the most recent available figure, according to the mining ministry.
