Pulacayo: The ghosts of mining past

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3 days in the town of Pulacayo, a UNESCO industrial world heritage site. Once one of the most properous towns in Bolivia thanks to its rich mines, Pulacayo’s formerly proud buildings are decayed and people have mostly abandoned the town. Those who stay depair at a future where the youth leave as soon as they can for other towns in Bolivia, Argentina and Peru. Without work and investment, one woman told me, the town will slide into oblivion.

I visited the town as it was debating an investment into local mines by a Canadian company Apogee. The local mining cooperative believes a joint venture between them, Apogee and COMIBOL, Bolivia’s state mining compay will reverse the town’s fortunes. But the company itself is waiting for October 31st, when the government of Bolivia will announce its new mining policy and possibly, nationalisation of the sector.

The locals that I talked to said that COMIBOL, which owns most of the mines in Pulacayo, had done nothing for the town since the crash of tin prices in 1985. So what would nationalisation mean for Pulacayo? No one knows. “Nationalisation? With what?” as one of the miners summed it up. Until October 31st, at least, the town’s future will remain uncertain.