Oruro Department

Oruro Department traces Bolivia's boom-bust extraction cycles through 400 years of mining. Founded in 1606 as a silver center, abandoned as silver depleted, then reestablished in the late 19th century as the heart of Bolivian tin production, Oruro demonstrates how extractive economies create path dependence that constrains adaptation. The Huanuni mine, once the world's largest underground tin operation, still operates, but the 1985 collapse of international tin prices—which then represented 29% of Bolivia's exports—devastated the regional economy.

The department sits within the Bolivian tin belt, a 900-kilometer geological formation stretching through the southwestern highlands. The Vinto smelter, opened in 1970 with 51,000-ton annual capacity, processes tin from multiple mines, and the 1892 Oruro-Antofagasta railroad—connecting the highlands to Chile's Pacific ports—enabled the tin industry's expansion. But environmental degradation from centuries of mining has contaminated water and soil around both Oruro and Potosi, creating sacrifice zones where ecological damage persists long after extraction becomes unprofitable.

Oruro's tin represents 5% of Bolivia's economy today, down from dominance a century ago. The department's future depends on whether remaining mineral deposits justify continued extraction or whether the industry follows silver into decline. Zinc mining has partially compensated, but Oruro's trajectory illustrates how resource-dependent regions cycle through exploitation without capturing enough value to diversify before depletion.