Legendary Bolivian silver mine at risk of collapse

By Monica Machicao

POTOSI, Bolivia (Reuters) - High silver prices are drawing a frenzy of miners to a colonial-era mine at Potosi in Bolivia, but the mine has become so dangerous that authorities fear the mine, part of a World Heritage Site, could collapse.

Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) rises majestically above the town of Potosi, a symbol of a colonial past where Inca slaves died by the thousand extracting silver to enrich their Spanish masters.

Nearly five centuries later, thousands of ill-equipped and untrained miners are turning its graceful cone into a sponge of flimsy tunnels that threaten to cave in on miners working below, prompting Bolivian officials to consider partial closure.

"It's a very important symbol for the people of Potosi and for the people of Bolivia," said German Elias, mining director at Potosi's local government. "The Cerro Rico is a monument that virtually sums up the history of mining."

Miners have already protested the possibility that parts of the Cerro could be closed, sending a warning to leftist President Evo Morales, who has clashed with the country's notoriously rebellious miners over a number of issues in recent months.

The miners -- who work in small cooperatives -- would rather take their chances with danger than earn less money elsewhere or face unemployment.

"This is the only way we have to make a living and we have to risk our lives to work here in the mine," said 23-year-old Julio Mamani. He earns less than $20 per day, relatively good for South America's poorest country, where the average monthly wage is about $115.

He pushed a wheel-barrow heaped with rubble to be loaded onto a cart and carried out to the daylight above. A 13-year-old boy worked nearby.

BRIDGE OF SILVER

Legend has it that enough metal was extracted from Cerro Rico to build a bridge of silver from South America to Europe, and the mine has left an indelible mark on Bolivian culture due to the cruel toll it took on indigenous slaves.

Its vast reserves turned the nearby city of Potosi into the most populous in the Americas in the 17th century, with some 120,000 inhabitants -- more than London, Paris or Madrid at the time.

A slump in silver prices threw its elaborate colonial churches and mansions into a long decline and, while the recent metals boom has brought a little prosperity back to Potosi, the chilly highland region is still one of Bolivia's poorest.

"Mining started in the Cerro Rico in 1545, and it hasn't stopped since," said Manuel Farfan, the regional head of Bolivia's state mining company Comibol. "Production's increased today because of the prices," he said.

Today about 15,000 miners work the site every day in round-the-clock shifts, and conditions have not changed much since Spanish conquerors brought slaves to work here nearly 500 years ago.

The centuries of mining mean rich seams of silver are harder to find so greater risks are being taken.