The mining exploitation in Potosí has a history of more than 500 years. The Rich Hill has generated in the past the most intense production of mineral and still today in day the mining activity continues continues, constituting this activity the source of revenues more important revenues for this town. Several mining cooperatives as some state and private companies extract minerals of the hill situated to the south of the city, which are sold to the flotation divices where they are processed fortoextract of zinc, tin, silver and lead concentrated.
In the beginning of the mining activities in the Rich Hill in 1545 there was a lot of silver that was obtained by foundry of the silver minerals. Starting of 1825, when finishing the reservations of silver in the bed. The mining activities began to concentrate gradually on the exploitation of tin minerals. The tin took place first for private companies and starting in 1952 for the COMIBOL state company, until the fall of the prices of the tin in 1985. For the concentration of the mineral methods gravimétricos was used. The lines of these activities, denominated “sucus”, cover today the hillsides of the Potosi Hill.
In the Rich Hill from Potosi export beds like lead,zinc, silver are exploited by underground mining. The private company PAILAVIRI and the 25 small cooperatives that are leasing the exploitation right of the state Concesionaire COMIBOL, they extract 1.300-1.600 tons of material per day. The cooperatives carry out most of their operations by hand and with the help of explosive, while the company PAILAVIRI has automated equipment.
The extracted mineral is processed in 42 devices located around the area of the Potosí city, with a total capacity of 2.700 tons per day. They are processed among 1.300-1.600 tons per day. These devices are located in the center or in the periphery of the city, between small or medium, with different technological degrees, size and production capacity, starting from this process it is generated concentrated and residuals (lines), these residuals coming from the process are discharged directly to the river the Rivera that crosses the city, these discharges they are carried out limitlessly and without any control and previous treatment. The pulps of lines are discharged daily to the river that is actuality the river more polluted of Bolivia.
Additionally takes the discharge of boiled waters of the drainage system of the city and sour drainage of rock (to GIVE) of several sources of passive environmental left by activities of COMIBOL, such as old mine that generate waters of mine of the Rich Hill, filtrations of old deposits of lines and discharges of you dismount.
The River the Rivera after its course for the city, receives the waters of the Río Huaynamayu, Korimayu and Alja Mayu, the same ones that hidrologily unites to the Río Tarapaya, belonging to the smallest basin that takes the same name, wich is a tributary of the Río Pilcomayo (fluvial system of the River of the Silver), therefore the pollution of this course of water is no longer only a national problem, coming up having international reach and causing tension with Argentina and Paraguay.
In such a sense the present investigation seeks to end up facing a methodological proposal in the environmental characterization in the area and identification of possible impacts in the main subcuenca and its microcuencas, combining technological tools, systematic valuations to generate dispersion models evaluating in the course of the time and space like the incidence antropica had contributed to the environmental deterioration of the means dilute, floor, air in the study area; being observed that although the treatment plants besides generating negative impacts to the environment in the city, also generate not only benefits private, if not the employment generation in the region and an entire productive chain that it moves the economy of Potosí.
What is sought starting from this investigation is to outline technical proposals with remediation measures and mitigation with the purpose of that later on it intends and take in strategic and political bill limits of action environmental prevention toward mining activities in the region committing the participation an appropriate control and work on behalf of institutions committed in the region like Prefecture, University, Alcaldia of the town, etc this so that although today in day the mining is to value you punctual of the economy of the country, this it should be considered a sustainable and sustainable mining, in order to preserve and to leave a healthy atmosphere for the future generations.