From a Russian paper:

Russian companies want to extract gold in Venezuela
Several Russian companies aspire to participate in the development of deposits
of gold "Las Cristinas" in Venezuela, together with the Government. This said,
the general director of the company with Russian capital "Rusoro" Andrei Agapov.


According to the "Reuters", the license for the development of "Las Cristinas"
is now owned by Canadian company "Crystallex", but it did not have the necessary
environmental permits for the work. Earlier, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said that to develop the deposit will be "Venrus" - a joint venture "Rusoro" and
Government of Venezuela. "However, there are other interested companies, both
private and public, who wish to become partners in the joint venture" - Agapov
said, adding that he did not know what this company.


Leading Russian zolotodobytchiki - Polyus Gold and Polymetal. In January, the
head of poles, providing a quarter of gold production in the Russian Federation,
Yevgeny Ivanov said that "Las Cristinas" interested in his company in terms of
scale. " "We are monitoring the situation, but the legal situation with them
(the project) is confusing. The risks of entering it for us as for a public
company are too high," - said Ivanov.


From Russian companies to invest in "Rusoro" has decided to only British "Peter
Hambro Mining", mining gold in Russia. It has invested several tens of millions
of dollars in Rusoro, which is believed to have close ties with the Government
of Venezuela and a good chance to get access to the field "Brisas", which is
close to "Las Cristinas" and could be key to the latter.


According Agapova, the final decision on the "Las Cristinas" and "Brisas" can be
made by June. In the past year, "Rusoro" tried unsuccessfully to buy the owner
of the concession for "Brisas" - company "Gold Reserve". "Rusoro" will continue
its activities in Venezuela, regardless of the Government's decision to "Las
Cristinas", - said Agapov.

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