The Bolivian government said this week that it is preparing a new tender for its Mutún iron ore deposit--believed to contain some of the world's largest reserves of iron ore--and the related steel manufacturing facility, after India's Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) abandoned it over a year ago.
Mining Minister Mario Virreira said he is tuning up details to put up to 50 percent of the project up for grabs, in hopes to fulfill the original target of start producing steel by 2014.
Mutún would be the Andean nation's first integrated steel facility and its largest foreign investment.
It is estimated that Mutún, located near the border with Brazil, is home to 20 billion tons of iron ore. To put in perspective, all of India's iron ore deposits add up to 28.5 billion tons.
The project had been on hold since 2007, when the Indian steelmaker was awarded a 40-year contract to mine about half the deposit. It also agreed to set up a plant to process 10 million metric tons of iron ore a year and build a steel factory, the first one in the Andean country, with an annual capacity of 1.7 million tons.
The Bolivian government plans to invest US$3-$4 million in building a highway and port in the border with Brazil, taking the ore through waterways that end up connecting the land-locked country to the Atlantic.
Last June, Bolivia sued Chile in the Hague before the International Court of Justice as Morales argues the southern neighbor reneged on agreements to give Bolivia access to ports further south on Chile's long Pacific coastline.
Despite pending decision, Bolivians still have preferential access to Chile's northern ports, and export their goods through them.