Page "Economy of Bolivia" Paragraph 15

Mining continues to be vital to Bolivia ’ s economy.

The collapse of the world tin market in the 1980s led to a restructuring of the industry.

The state dramatically reduced its control and presently operates only a small portion of mining activities.

Small-scale operations, often with low productivity, employ many former state miners.

Natural gas has supplanted tin and silver as the country ’ s most valuable natural commodity.

A discovery in 1997 confirmed a tenfold gain in Bolivia ’ s known natural gas reserves.

Finding markets to utilize this resource, both domestically and internationally, has been slowed by a lack of infrastructure and conflicts over the state ’ s role in controlling natural resources.

Although the world tin market has reemerged, Bolivia now faces stiff competition from Southeast Asian countries producing lower-cost alluvial tin.

Gold and silver production has increased dramatically over the past decade.

Annually, as of 2002 Bolivia extracted and exported more than 11, 000 kilograms of gold and 461 tons of silver.

Additionally, Bolivia has increased zinc production, extracting more than 100, 000 tons each year.

Other metals excavated include antimony, iron, and tungsten.