As Bolivia's economic crisis worsens, the mining operations behind me are becoming even more important. As much as 60 tons of gold a year that's extracted from rivers and mountains in Bolivia is helping plug the gap in Bolivia's finances. That's at a time when natural gas exports have fallen sharply.The lithium boom is yet to happen. That leaves gold as a way to plug the gap as the government struggles to find hard currency to supply heavily subsidized fuel to the population. The hard currency shortage is e ...