Drag to turn the globe

Mines/Bolivia

Cerro Rico de Potosi

Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia, underground, mining silver, tin.

Why Cerro Rico de Potosi is famous

Silver found in 1545. Toledo's mita from 1573 supplied about 13,000 to 13,400 men a year, and amalgamation was adopted in the early 1570s. Population exceeded 100,000 by 1600 and about 160,000 in 1650. Easy ore was largely exhausted by about 1600, a tin boom followed from the late 1890s, and Comibol took over after 1952.1,2,3,4

Story cards

Timeline

  1. early 1570sMercury amalgamation adopted for Potosi silver5

Cerro Rico de Potosi today

Where silver is mined todayWhere tin is mined todayMining in Bolivia

Where next

People

Inspired byBartolome de MedinaThe Pachuca refinery method that fed Potosi's silver boom.6Worked hereMauricio (Moritz) HochschildHis company files were found in Potosi and Oruro warehouses.7

Mines

Financed byHuancavelica mercury mineHuancavelica's mercury, mined from 1564, was needed to amalgamate Potosi's silver.2ExamplesValenciana Mine (Guanajuato)Valenciana once made a third of the world's silver. Potosi had found its lode in 1545.8ExamplesLaurion silver minesLaurion silver funded the Athenian fleet. Potosi's silver flowed to Seville.1ExamplesGejiuSilver and tin: Cerro Rico, found in 1545, also became a tin source.9

Events

Led toMercury amalgamation adopted for Potosi silverRead what happened near Cerro Rico de Potosi: Mercury amalgamation adopted for Potosi silver.1

Places

Located inPotosiCerro Rico de Potosi is about 3 km from Potosi.1

Sources

  1. Potosi entry Encyclopedia.com
  2. Robins and Hagan (2012) mercury and silver in Spanish America PubMed Central
  3. Wikidata entity Q1055970
  4. Wikidata item Q35045 (Potosi) Wikidata (CC0)
  5. Mercury Production and Use in Colonial Andean Silver Production: Emissions and Health Implications (via Europe PMC) Environmental Health Perspectives (Robins and Hagan)
  6. Inductees from Mining's Past: Bartolome de Medina Mining Foundation of the Southwest
  7. How Bolivia's ruthless tin baron saved thousands of Jewish refugees The Guardian (Dan Collyns, 11 Aug 2022)
  8. NI 43-101 technical report, effective 31 December 2023 Guanajuato Silver Co (GSilver)
  9. data/minerals/operations.csv Prospector Trails (internal)

Pictures on this page: Bartolomé de Medina (MUNCYT, Eulogia Merle).jpg, Eulogia Merle (CC BY-SA 4.0); 1026470 F82658.png, Irene Bran (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

Cerro Rico rising above the rooftops of Potosí, BoliviaMining historyPotosí, the mountain of silverSilver · BoliviaHistory of miningSilver: the metal that made the first global economy1000-1850History of miningGoing deep: Agricola, steam and the Cornish mines1500-1900History of miningWhose ore is it? Resource nationalism1952-2025

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Cerro Rico over Potosí by Jbmurray, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Potosi, Bolivia, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Dolcoath tin mine, Camborne, Cornwall: miners in a mine shaft, standing on wooden platforms connected by ladders. Photograph by J. C. Burrow, 1890/1910., Burrow, J. C., 1852-1914 (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Chiquicamata Mine, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).