Water threat to Region II revived Water threat to Region II revived - Chile
Published: Friday, December 29, 2006 13:43 (GMT -0400)
Bolivia wants to push ahead with plans to industrialize a river that supplies water to northern Chile, Bolivia's state information agency ABI reported.
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The move would pose a threat to the world's largest copper-producing district in Region II's Atacama desert.
Bolivian president Evo Morales has placed a 20-person military unit in the River Silala area, some 4km from the border with Chile, to defend the country's "sovereignty and natural resources," ABI said.
The river springs at 4,000m in Bolivia's Andean mountains and flows down into Chile's Region II, home to many giant copper mining operations including Escondida and Chuquicamata, owned by Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and state company Codelco respectively.
Water is an essential input in the copper-producing process.
Bolivia's armed forces chief Wilfredo Vargas emphasized the urgent need to push forward actions that allow the industrialization of the River Silala, according to ABI.
A Codelco spokesperson told BNamericas the conflict over the use of water from the River Silala is not new and is being dealt with by Chile's foreign ministry rather than mining companies.
"It's a fairly old problem that resurfaces now and again mainly for bilateral political reasons between the two countries," the spokesperson said.
Relations between Chile and Bolivia are marked by a century-old dispute over Bolivia's access to the sea, lost in a war in the late 1800s.
Chile is the world's largest producer of copper with anticipated production of some 5.4Mt in 2006.