LA PAZ - Sumitomo's San Cristobal mine in Bolivia has been forced to partially halt production due to anti-government protests in the southern Potosi region, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

San Cristobal, one of Bolivia's largest mines, produces silver, zinc and lead and is 100 percent owned by Japan's Sumitomo Corp.

Potosi residents have been protesting against the government for nearly two weeks. They took over a key power station that supplies the San Cristobal mine on Tuesday, according to the country's mining minister.

A San Cristobal spokesman told Reuters the mine was still extracting mineral although it had stopped processing the mineral ore into concentrate and was no longer transporting it to Chile, from where it is shipped abroad.

"We're very worried ... if we don't (restart the plant) we could face a complete shutdown of the mine in the short term," San Cristobal spokesman Javier Prado said.

He said the plant that processes concentrates had been shut for scheduled maintenance for nearly two days and the firm might not restart it because of the protests.

However, Bolivian Mining Minister Jose Pimentel told reporters "San Cristobal has paralyzed its production."

Protesters in Potosi have been demonstrating for two weeks to demand the government carry out development projects in the mineral-rich region. Protest leaders went on hunger strike last weekend demanding leftist President Evo Morales travel to the area to negotiate with them.

Protesters have blocked roads and the local airport, leaving dozens of foreign tourists stranded in Potosi.

In April, local peasant farmers blockaded the mine for 10 days, demanding compensation from the company for the use of water supplies and calling for expanded services, including electricity, running water and mobile phone coverage.

Protests by Indian groups against mining companies are fairly common in impoverished Bolivia and in neighboring Peru, a leading producer of silver, zinc and copper.

San Cristobal is one of the largest mines in landlocked Bolivia, producing some 1,300 tonnes of zinc-silver ore, and 300 tonnes of lead-silver ore per day.

It began production in 2007 with a target output of 600 000 tonnes of mineral ore annually.

According to Sumitomo's website, the mine is the world's third-largest producer of silver and the sixth-largest producer of zinc.

Source: Reuters