The value of Bolivia's minerals exports dropped 29.3% to $115 million in January from a year earlier due to declining metals prices and operations closures, the government said Thursday.
Zinc concentrates exports fell 19.22% to $61.4 million, while silver dropped 38% to $35.9 million and lead declined 26.3% to $9.2 million, the country's National Statistics Institute said in a statement.
Copper sales fell 67.6% to $2 million, while tungsten dropped 77% to $500,000 and both gold and antimony fell by half to $1.5 million and $300,000, respectively, it said.
Tin more than doubled to $2.4 million.
Refined gold exports, which are reported separately, fell 30.8% to $51.7 million, while refined tin dropped 9.8% to $22.6 million. Both refined silver and antimony fell by half to $3.8 million and $800,000, respectively.
State mining company Comibol shut its Karachipampa silver-lead smelter in December due to technical problems.
The agency did not report copper cathodes sales.
Bolivia's total exports fell 35.7% to $518 million from $806 million 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.
