2008-10-29 14:20:25 - Credit restrictions as a result of the international financial crisis is affecting development of mining projects in Venezuela that are sorely in need of venture capital, according to Luis Alejandro Rojas, vice president of the Venezuelan Mining Chamber (CAMIVEN).

VHeadline Venezuela News reports:

In an interview with the Caracas broadsheet El Nacional, Rojas highlighted the dilemma of USA-Spokane (Washington State) based Gold Reserve (GRZ) which had ordered major machinery to mine for gold at the Las Brisas del Cuyuni project in southeastern Bolivar state, but has been forced to suspend the order because of the fact that it has

not yet received environmental clearances necessary for the project to proceed.

The Las Brisas del Cuyuni project is contiguous to the Las Cristinas gold mine, owned by the Venezuelan government and contracted by the state-owned heavy industry conglomerate, the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) to Canadian, Toronto-based, Crystallex International (KRY) to mine an estimated reserve of 16-24 million ounces of gold.

Gold Reserve's original scheduled investment was claimed to have been in the region of US$1 billion but will be reduced because of current financial considerations. Camiven's vice president explains that Venezuela's mining industry also has to tackle a global shortage of drilling rigs and is exacerbated by Venezuelan government arrears in granting environmental permits and the difficulty in finding funding for international banking.

Rojas also highlights a new Mining Act under preparation (for several years) by Venezuela's central government. While the National Assembly (AN) has not yet received any information or draft of the bill's legal text, he believes that it should be much in variance with a prior draft project put to public consultation two years ago. Meanwhile, he states that the eventual adoption of the new Mining Act must be in concert with the enactment of a number of other laws covering land-use and forestry, with particulat emphasis on the development of Venezuela's mining industry.

VHeadline Venzuela News
vheadline@gmail.com


Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.

HELP US TO KEEP BRINGING YOU THE TRUTH
tinyurl.com/n4fg