Luis Herrera admits weaknesses in the auriferous sector like the lack of a stricter control and the complicity of the civil servants at all the levels.

The ministry is orienting the efforts towards a industrialized mining

The Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining (Mibam) has initiated a policy of reorientation of the sector that happens through the formation of mixed companies that generate social welfare to the bordering populations.

President of CVG Minerven, Luis Herrera, has been key piece in that strategy, because until recently - in addition to his state position in the auriferous one he was to the front of the national direction of control of mines and there he headed a fight so that the inactive concessions were given back to the Venezuelan State, thus to end part of the speculation that surrounds precious minerals.

“There is a quite great advance, the main problem is the recovery of the areas. There is a defined policy not to give more concessions nor to give the more prorogations, that everything is centralized in the State, on the basis of mixed companies, for example deposits that were forgotten either the government in inverted commas are in them, like is it the part of the niobium and the tantalum, who are coltan, and we have an action to exert a policy towards the development of the hill the Impact and towards the zone of Parguasa and Caicara of the Orinoco”.

Equal development, equal well-being
It indicates the president of the state miner who the intention of the office that directs Rodolfo Sanz is to impel developments in different axes from the state Bolivar, and who these create well-being in the settlers as well and serves to reactivate towns that during years been has left by chance and without the control of the State, which has brought consequently that some transnational ones take advantage this condition.

In his opinion the “empowering of all the sector is key. We are developing a project of which if there is an industrial development it must have a social development, is necessary to speak of health urbanism, that people feel that the change is different, if we generated a policy, we implemented the plan, but the towns are in the same conditions then does not have sense, I I believe that way goes the point”.

Added to this Herrera considers that the Venezuelan State must realise a plan of national exploration, “costs what costs” to be able to plan the development on the basis of the potentials and to determine how much usable wealth has in the territory.

All this must go of the hand of economic structures that do not leave isolate the towns and that allow their inhabitants to reach better standards of quality of life, reflected in health, education and infrastructure.

To invest to grow
In order to obtain all this considers that “the budget for the mining question must be with greater urgency, that is to say than is greater and has sense ambitious, because that allows us for example that in this crisis only with diamond and gold is an endorsement, but we cannot wait for another crisis to give account to us of that, we must invest”.

Herrera explains that stops the state Bolivar are three poles of development: one for the zone of Caicara of the Orinoco and border with the Amazon state; another one in the south between Upata and the Kilometer 88, and another one towards Santa Elena de Uairén, where the ministry must define if it impels the mining or it decides to take it to its minimum expression.

“We have the intention to mount a mixed company in Guaniamo - the diamond mines another one is to mount a granite company in that zone, one of bauxite, coltan, is four and the aluminum plant is five, plus the third bridge that is going to be a development axis, and are concrete points, makes shine like diamonds, bauxite, granite, coltan - a super conductor used in electronics and aluminum”.

It notices the person in charge of Minerven that are many companies interested in investing in the 48 thousand hectares of land that has Minerven, and that these have thought to enter operations and not about the speculative market, in which the concessions with third parties and usually they play with stock-market of values without really investing in the mines nor generating social welfare.

to occur to a real activation of the mining axes the towns of the south use positions of and commerce would be benefitted, because they could again see his activated economies, with.

“There is the pretension to reactivate the deposits that are in Sifontes, the Breeze deposit of the Cuyuní, also, the deposit of Chicanán, the Center also, to activate the investments but from the operative point of view. Tin leaf will be a mixed company along with the cooperative that is in the zone, we are looking for to take advantage of the resources to the maximum to recover the investment, to increase production and to canalize the credits which we have asked and to advance”.

Vices of the past
In spite of all the good intentions of the ministry, Luis Herrera confesses that “it is difficult to mount a policy when people are customary to receive the dollars, and to hope that they are the gringos who come to do something. We have the vision to look for the dollars, but to work with them and the people who come, but to make the things we”.

It notices that besides this there is complicity from some factors involved with the subject of the mines and that this makes difficult a real ordering of the sector, and this because for many years the deposits have been handled low schemes of interests, that often are related to transnational powerful, that little or nothing has left to the adjacent towns their developments.

Leaving the subject of the mining on a large scale, Luis Herrera is of whom thinks that the small mining must be become ordained and become industrialized, avoiding of this form the mercury use.

“We cannot see the miner like something disorderly, are small developments, small industralists. The other thing to consider is the control, is necessary to see that amount of Peruvian, Colombian we have in that sector. It must have a global order, then it is necessary to arm a plan for the sector, that cannot be to give a silver him because it appears that one pile of people”.

Foreign investments

Ministry of Industries Basic and Mining, according to informs Luis Herrera, president of CVG Minerven, has in his agenda to stimulate investments foreign in country, but as long as the companies are prepared to realise mixed associations, that allow the Venezuelan State to have presence in the businesses, to obtain transference of technology and interchange of knowledge.

Some of the countries with which the Venezuelan Government has signed letters of intent for mining advantages are South Africa, Russia, some Arab countries, and Latin American countries like Ecuador, where Venezuela will contribute to the operation of a deposit with consultant's office of the personnel of Minerven.

The goal of gold production of Minerven for this year is of 8 tons, nevertheless, this could not be fulfilled by the multiple operative difficulties that have presented/displayed months in the last, which has decreased in the productivity of the state one.