Venezuela achieved great financing mining: Chavez
Sunday, September 27 2009 14:49 IST Print [-] Text [+] CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela was financed by "several billion dollars" to develop its mining sector, to be paid to an eventual gold production , diamonds and iron, said on Sunday President Hugo Chávez, without providing further details.

Venezuela and Russia signed several agreements in July on energy cooperation, military and financial, including a credit of 4,000 million dollars that the Eurasian giant promised to give the Latin American country to develop mining and resources.

"We get several billion dollars recently to invest in mining. And with a part of the production of gold, iron, diamonds, with a portion going to pay for that investment," said Chavez during a summit America South-Africa in Margarita Island, Venezuela.

Could not immediately tell if Chavez referred to the Russian loan, which would be channeled by the financial arm Gazprombank-state energy company Gazprom, and secured with Venezuelan exports, which conditions are unknown or projects to which earmark.

Venezuela and the Russian-Canadian miner Rusoro announced this year to jointly develop major gold deposits Brisas and Las Cristinas, in the southeast of the country and gold reserves valued at more than 30,000 million dollars.

Venezuela holds some of the largest undeveloped mineral deposits in the region, deposits of gold, diamonds and bauxite.

(By Fabian Andres Cambero, written by Enrique Andres Pretel, edited by Ines Guzman)

http://lta.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idLTASIE58Q0PZ20090927