India's Jindal Steel & Power suspended its iron ore mining operations in Bolivia on Wednesday, according to international news outlets citing Jindal executives. As SteelOrbis previously reported, in early June Jindal said that the Bolivian government had 30 days to solve the issue of "non-fulfillment of the contractual obligations" by the South American government. However, it appears that efforts to save the project have failed.
Operations at the El Mutun mine in Bolivia were suspended and negotiations between Jindal and the government have ceased. According to a statement from Jindal, it has "suspended its contractual obligations and informed the government of its intention to terminate the joint venture contract for El Mutun." The government has until July 8 to express willingness to negotiate contractual obligations.
While Jindal has said the government failed to provide the necessary gas and infrastructure to maintain the operations, Bolivia's government blamed Jindal for violating the terms of its contract.