Venezuelan Gold: 10 times
Friday, 07 August 2009

07 August 2009 01:15 By Miguel Lozano (*)

El Callao, Venezuela (PL) Venezuelan gold industry began a vigorous expansion for gold production of 4.2 tons in 2008 to 40 tonnes in 2013, accompanying the payment of social debt to the workers.

The general manager of the state company CVG Minerva, Bonaldo Juan engineer, said in a meeting with journalists in Bolivar State, as part of the screening, progress in meeting the planned production of eight tons in 2009.

According Bonald Prensa Latina and as found in the El Callao gold district, the challenge includes new investment, dispute resolution and reorganization of the union sector from areas recovered, previously operated by transnational corporations.

To ensure higher incomes and social benefits, miners and officials interviewed indicated the need to replace equipment and technology and the installation of new processing plants to take over mining areas.

One purpose is the recovery in production of Las Cristinas, the largest gold deposit known in Latin America, valued at 30 billion dollars ...

The outlook could be broader, Valerio Guerrero believes the engineer, contractor CVG Minerva, who recently discovered the El Dorado gold district, also in Bolivar State, pointing to a higher deposit reserve.

Consulted by Prensa Latina, Guerrero, president of High-Tech Investment Minning, CA, says that if you add zones unevaluated, Las Cristinas reserves may have up to two times above the estimated 32 million ounces.

The recovery of Las Cristinas is pending the determination of a new foreign partner that has not yet been revealed, but according to unofficial versions may lie in a Russian state company.

This new phase will have to stop the exploitation of crude oil field and its use by the Canadian company Crystallex to operate in the bag without a real farm.

RUSORO, a Vancouver-based firm, already operates open pit mines and, according to reports from the company, concluded studies to expand the exploitation of gold deposits in the state where the wealth is concentrated in the gold country.

According to the company is the Choco 10 and deposits Incredible 6 and pre-feasibility studies at San Rafael-El Placer (next to El Dorado) that would produce 170 thousand ounces this year to 500 thousand ounces, with cost of $ 331 per ounce.

Other references to the future of the Venezuelan gold industry covering actions for the reversion (the state from applying the law of joint ventures) in treatment plants and Revemin Camorra.

It also includes the reversal of Chicano deposits valued at 500 thousand million dollars of diamonds in the region Guaniamo of about four billion dollars.

In Revemin plant, one of four operated by CVG Minerva (with Caratal, Camorra and Peru), especially as the plant manager, engineer, Francisco Gonzalez, are optimistic about the future of the sector.

Revemin, which uses activated carbon, the raw material received from two underground mines (Sosa Méndez and Colombia) and two open-pit (Hansa Union) and "tails" (waste) from the small miners. Gonzalez said that being processed 500 thousand tons of ore per day with highly trained personnel in Venezuela, compared to 800 thousand tons per day or when the plant was operated by foreign companies.

Since the reversal is also improved working conditions, an expression which says Gonzalez is the occupation at the approximately 220 employees, compared to 104 when it was operated by foreign firms.

Revemin provides about 125 of the 400 kilograms of gold produced per month CVG Minerva, said Gonzalez, who considered feasible to increase the production with some technology investments.

CVG MINERVE perspective aims to reach 12 tonnes of gold in 2010, 16 tonnes in 2011, 20 tonnes in 2012 and 40 tons in 2013.

The official projection is for this process to move forward with a social approach to eliminate the historical debt of the sector, traditionally subjected to difficult working conditions.

According to reports from CVG MINERVE only for labor liabilities have been paid over 18 million Bolivars (about $ 8.5 million), but problems inherited from the nineteenth century as a source of friction remain.

Traditional center of gold production in Venezuela, the region of El Callao gold district, located in the Guayana Shield to the gates of the Gran Sabana, is today one of the axes that the conversion involves not only the industry.

In an important degree, the challenge of the sector is to ensure a bright future for thousands of people employed in gold mining, which have seen their hands out of tonnes of gold metal to obtain a few benefits.

A clear example of the corporate debt is now El Callao, which has not received what it deserves, despite being based on a source of wealth.

This profile of the population, also known for his dedication to the festive calypso, music brought with the first miners arrived in the Caribbean, could change in that plan to fruition the official production and its social implications.

(*) The author is chief correspondent for Prensa Latina in Venezuela

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