LA PAZ – State-owned mining companies Comibol and Huanuni will invest $40 million to build a new plant that will allow Bolivia to more than double its tin production, the daily La Razon reported Monday.

When the new plant comes on line, the two firms will have the capacity to process 3,000 tons of tin per day, compared to their current daily capacity of 1,200 tons.

The decision was made on Sunday at a meeting attended by Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, several Cabinet ministers and leaders of the miners unions.

Union official Roberto Chavez told the daily that Huanuni already has the construction project for the infrastructure planned and all that needs to be done to begin work is to iron out a few technical details.

In 2007, the government of President Evo Morales expropriated the Vinto smelter from the Swiss firm Glencore and assumed state control of the Huanuni tin deposit, the largest in the country, which was being exploited by private mining cooperatives. EFE