Canada’s Atlas Dumps Bolivia Silver

Canadian mining company Atlas Precious Metals is pulling out of Bolivia’s Karachipampa silver smelter project. Atlas has a 65% stake in the project, which the Bolivian government is now appropriating. The Bolivian government claims Atlas was running behind schedule and had only invested a small portion of the $120m it had promised. Roy Shipes, chairman, president and CEO of Atlas tells LatinFinance that his company was on schedule to invest the full amount. However, Shipes says the Bolivian government had not fulfilled its promise to surrender ownership of the land associated with Karachipampa. The environmental impact agency then refused to provide an impact study, citing Atlas’ lack of title to the land, Shipes says. Without the impact study, the government would not allow Atlas to develop the project. “We had already invested about $18m,” Shipes says, adding that Atlas will sue Bolivia. While Shipes says Atlas has no intention of investing in Bolivia again, the company is looking for opportunities in other LatAm jurisdictions, including copper, silver and gold projects in Panama.