The dynamite attack is thought to be the result of two mining collectives fighting over access to gold deposits.

A clash between gold-mining operations in Bolivia has resulted in an explosion that killed six people, according to authorities.

Thursday’s blast rocked the Yani mining camp approximately 150 kilometres – or 90 miles – northwest of the country’s administrative capital, La Paz.

“There are six dead, and we have reports of missing persons,” said Jhonny Silva, a representative from one of the mining groups involved, the Hijos de Ingenio Mining Cooperative.

That mining collective reportedly brawled with another group, known as Senor de Mayo, in a dynamite-laden fight over access to a gold mining area. The explosion left houses damaged and the town of Sorata without power.

“They have blown up machinery with dynamite, even a diesel tank,” Silva said of the rival cooperative.

Collectives developped in Bolivia as an alternative to state-run and private enterprises. Critics have accused those large companies of providing unstable employment for low-income mining workers, their jobs hinging on market fluctuations.

The collectives started to crop up in the wake of several economic crises, particularly in 1985, when international mineral prices fell and the state-owned mining company Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) temporarily shuttered.

That left tens of thousands of Bolivian miners without jobs. As Bolivia’s mines were privatised, the collectives offered a space for the miners to self-organise. Some would eventually extract tin, silver, gold and zinc to sell to private businesses.

Collectives now represent the majority of mining workers, outnumbering their counterparts at COMIBOL and in the private sector. They therefore wield significant political power, despite their relatively modest ability to extract minerals, compared to big companies.

Estimates put the number of gold-mining collectives at about 1,600. But critics of the cooperative system warn that there are few safeguards in place for workers, who are exposed to toxic conditions in the extraction process.

Opponents also note that – while cooperatives are legal – some of their mining activity is not, and that can lead to environmental destruction and pollution.

The informal nature of the work has also led to deadly clashes, both over access to mining sites and the markets in which to sell the metals and raise investments.

The fights sometimes involve COMIBOL workers and security forces. The state-run company has become Bolivia’s largest company, propelled in part by favourable policies under former socialist President Evo Morales, who led the country from 2006 to 2019.

In 2012, for instance, tensions between COMIBOL and the collectives led to road blockages and a deadly dynamite attack in La Paz.

Thursday’s dynamite attack between the collectives, however, was simmering for years, according to Silva.

Colonel Gunther Agudo, a local police officer, told local media that the dynamite attack “caused an explosion of great magnitude”.

“We’re continuing the rescue efforts,” he said.