Potosí, Bolivia: The Richest and Deadliest Mine in the World

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After reading about the illustrious history of Potosí earlier in our travels, we were looking forward to experiencing the city firsthand. For most of the 16th and 17th centuries, Potosí was the richest and largest metropolis in the Americas. After being founded in 1545, the city had grown to house 120,000 inhabitants in only 1573, more people than Madrid, Rome, or Paris. The source of Potosí’s growth was silver. Nestled at 12,000 above sea level, the city was and is dwarfed by the massive “Cerro Rico” (“rich hill”), containing one of the largest silver reserves in the world.


The silver rush came and went, however, and after a few centuries Potosí’s economy was in ruins. I visited one of the remaining active mines, and learned how desperate the situation still is. Since de-nationalization of the mines in the late 1980s, over 30 small mining companies have developed. The miners’ work remains dominated by manual labor, however, and they use much of the same equipment as in centuries past.


Inside the mine, individual miners chip away at the rock with handpicks and sticks of dynamite. Their work was once cooperative, but after debates over pay distribution, the miners now work independently or in small groups. When a group finds some valuable mineral, they load the rocks into carts, push their load up out of the mine, and are paid according to the value of their rocks. All of the minerals are then exported as raw materials and processed abroad by foreign companies. The processed minerals are subsequently resold at much higher prices, with the profits going to the foreign companies.

The mine passageways are short, narrow, and often filled with mud. There are no lights inside, besides each worker’s headlamp. Much of the air is noticeably contaminated with arsenic and other fumes. The workers generally work 6 days a week, 10-12 hours per day. They do not eat during the work shifts, subsisting on breakfast and a late dinner. Child labor is common, and some miners are only 12 years old.


To tolerate the adverse conditions, the miners constantly chew on coca leaves. The leaves dull the senses and help the miners to work with little oxygen or food. Most miners keep a wad of coca leaves in their mouths while working. Most also have chronically bloody gums, likely as a result.


Reflection
During the city’s heyday, more wealth flowed from Potosí than from any other city in the Americas. This wealth traveled first to Spain, and then to Europe’s developing capitalist countries – England, Holland, and France. According to Eduardo Galeano, the capital pumped into Europe from Potosí helped provide the resources for the development of capitalism itself – while 8 million indigenous Bolivians died from the atrocious work of extracting these resources.

Although many of the miners are illiterate and speak only their indigenous language, at least some of them seemed conscious of their continued oppression. Our guide explained the miners’ frustration with both the lack of government investment and support, and the ease with which foreign companies extract profits from the mine. After over 400 years, it seemed that Potosí was still being used to support foreign companies at the expense of Bolivian lives.

Question
Why have the conditions at the Potosí mines changed so little? What could be done to improve them? What other situations are comparable to the mines of Potosí?