Prospector Trails
Stories/Silver · Bolivia
In 1545 silver was found on a red cone high on the Bolivian altiplano. Within decades Potosí was one of the biggest cities in the world, its silver crossed both oceans, and tens of thousands of Andean people were forced to mine it. The province holds a new kind of treasure today.
01 · The find
Cerro Rico, the "rich hill", rises to about 4,800 m on the Bolivian altiplano. In 1545 silver ore was found on its slope, and the town of Potosí was founded at its foot that April.
The ore near the surface was so rich that it could be smelted in small clay wind furnaces, the huayras, that Andean smelters had used for centuries.
Sources: Cerro Rico; Columbia University.
02 · The boom
By 1611 Potosí was reported to have about 160,000 people, at about 4,000 m above sea level. Churches, a mint and the houses of silver merchants filled the valley below the mountain.
"Vale un Potosí", it is worth a Potosí, became a Spanish phrase for anything priceless.
Sources: Columbia University; Potosí.
03 · The human cost
When the rich surface ore ran out, the Spanish switched to refining with mercury, brought from the mines of Huancavelica in Peru. To supply labour, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo organised the mita in 1573.
About 200 Andean communities had to send a share of their men to the mines every year, until 1812. Many died underground or from mercury poisoning. Economist Melissa Dell found that areas once subject to the mita are still poorer today.
Source: MIT News on Dell (2010).
04 · The first global trade
Silver went by llama to the Pacific port of Arica, by ship to Callao and Panama, across the isthmus and on to Havana and Seville. It paid for Spain's wars and filled European mints.
Another stream went west. From 1565 to 1815 the Manila galleons carried American silver from Acapulco to Manila, where it bought Chinese silk and porcelain. Up to a third of the silver may have ended up in Asia.
Sources: The Met; Manila galleon.
05 · The tally
The official records show about 45,000 tonnes of pure silver from Cerro Rico between 1556 and 1783. Silver weighs about 10.5 tonnes per cubic metre, so it would fit in a cube about 16 metres on each side.
That is less than two years of today's world silver mine output, about 26,000 tonnes in 2025.
Sources: Potosí; USGS MCS 2026.
06 · Silver today
World silver output has grown roughly fivefold since 1900. Much of it now comes as a by-product of copper, lead and zinc mines. Mexico mined about 24% of the world's silver in 2025, Peru about 14% and China about 13%.
Bolivia still mines about 6%, much of it from cooperatives working tunnels in Cerro Rico and nearby.
Data: USGS DS140 and MCS 2026.
Silver: where it is mined and traded07 · The next silver?
About 200 km south-west of Cerro Rico lies the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, in the same department of Potosí. Bolivia reports 23 million tonnes of lithium resources, 21 million of them in Uyuni.
So far very little has been produced. Who builds the plants, who refines the lithium and who keeps the money are the same questions Potosí faced five centuries ago.
Source: USGS MCS 2026.
Mining in BoliviaThe full story
Few places changed the world economy as much as one mountain in the Andes. Cerro Rico above Potosí, in today's Bolivia, was the largest single source of silver in the Spanish empire. Its silver was minted into the coins that circulated from Seville to Guangzhou, and it was mined by forced labour on a huge scale.
Silver ore was found on Cerro Rico in 1545, and Potosí was founded the same year. The early ore was rich enough to smelt in small wind furnaces. By 1611 the city was reported to have about 160,000 people, which made it one of the largest cities in the world, at about 4,000 m above sea level.
As the rich ore ran out, output was revived in the 1570s by mercury amalgamation, using mercury from Huancavelica in Peru, and by the mita, a forced labour draft organised by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo in 1573. About 200 communities had to send workers to Potosí every year until the mita was abolished in 1812. Research by economist Melissa Dell found that areas once subject to the mita have lower household consumption and worse child health today.
Potosí's silver reached Europe through Arica, Callao, Panama, Havana and Seville. Another stream went from Acapulco to Manila on the Manila galleons between 1565 and 1815, to buy Chinese goods. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that up to a third of American silver may have ended up in Asia, so Potosí helped to link the Americas, Europe and China into one trading system.
The official records show about 45,000 tonnes of pure silver from Cerro Rico between 1556 and 1783. Smuggled and unrecorded silver would add to that. The world now mines about 26,000 tonnes of silver a year (USGS, 2025), led by Mexico, Peru and China.
The department of Potosí also contains the Salar de Uyuni. Bolivia reports 23 million tonnes of lithium resources, 21 million in Uyuni, but commercial production has been slow. The city of Potosí was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, and Cerro Rico is still mined by cooperatives.
The official records show about 45,000 tonnes of pure silver produced from Cerro Rico between 1556 and 1783. For scale, the world mined about 26,000 tonnes of silver in 2025 (USGS).
The mita was a forced labour draft run by the Spanish colonial state from 1573 to 1812. About 200 Andean communities had to send a share of their adult men each year to work in the mines of Potosí and the mercury mines of Huancavelica. Economist Melissa Dell found lower living standards today in the areas that were subject to it.
Much of it crossed the Atlantic to Seville, and a large share went west on the Manila galleons from Acapulco to Manila, where it bought Chinese silk and porcelain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that up to a third of American silver may have ended up in Asia.
Yes. Cooperatives and small miners still work the mountain, which is riddled with tunnels, and Bolivia produced about 5.8% of the world's silver in 2025 (USGS).
Bolivia reports 23 million tonnes of lithium resources, 21 million of them in the Salar de Uyuni, in the same department of Potosí (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries). Very little has been produced so far.
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Photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0; Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Chuquicamata from the ISS by Alexander Gerst (ESA), CC BY-SA 2.0; Malachite on cobaltocalcite, Musonoi by Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0.