Launched December 21, 2018 on www.zReportage.com Story #689: Potosi is a mining town famous for the incredible riches that have been cut out of the Cerro Rico Mountain ever since 1545, when the Spaniards began with large-scale excavation. Located in the Bolivian Tin Belt, Cerro Rico de Potosi is the world's largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century, producing up to 60,000 tonnes by 1996. Estimates are that much silver still remains in the mines. The miners work in small cooperatives and would rather take their chances with danger than earn less money elsewhere or face unemployment. Some miners earn less than $20 per day, relatively good for South America's poorest country, where the average monthly wage is around $100.
© Story of the Week zReportage.com: Launched December 21, 2018 on www.zReportage.com Story #689: Potosi is a mining town famous for the incredible riches that have been cut out of the Cerro Rico Mountain ever since 1545, when the Spaniards began with large-scale excavation. Located in the Bolivian Tin Belt, Cerro Rico de Potosi is the world's largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century, producing up to 60,000 tonnes by 1996. Estimates are that much silver still remains in the mines. The miners work in small cooperatives and would rather take their chances with danger than earn less money elsewhere or face unemployment. Some miners earn less than $20 per day, relatively good for South America's poorest country, where the average monthly wage is around $100.
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - Trolleys used for the transport of minerals.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A miner with a head lamp chews coca leaves to relieve fatigue and alleviate hunger.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
A miner lights the dynamite charges that will bring down a wall of rock in search of silver. The action is performed by a single miner to reduce the possibility of more casualties that could be encountered.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A teenage miner pulls a cart full of stones.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A child lies sick with fever.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A tunnel passage that connects two mines.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A child plays after work in the Cerro Rico.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - Father and son miners wear their headlamps during a rare work break.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - The houses of miners and their families that are in close proximity to a mine entrance.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - The surface of the soil on which a chemical treatment is carried out prior to the extraction of silver. Empty alcoholic bottles litter the ground.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A young mother and guardian of nine.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - Young miners enter a recently demolished area, considered safe.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - This child laborer is 11 years old but hopes one day to have the opportunity to return to school and become an engineer.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - Young miners outside the entrance of a silver mine.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - ''El Tio'' and a miner. ''El Tio'', a miners deity that presides over tunnel entrances. Every day, miners offer him coca leaves, cigarettes and alcohol in the hope to receive good fortune and luck finding silver.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - A young boy waits for dynamite to be readied.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - The hand of a fourteen year old shows the precious metal, silver.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
October 10, 2017 - Potosi, Potosi Region, Bolivia - Young miners returning from a working day inside Cerro Rico.
© Simone Francescangeli/ZUMA Wire
