....the ideas are running wild and the minerals are still in the ground.

The association governs mixed state mining policy

Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Luis Herrera admits weakness in the gold sector as the lack of tighter control and the complicity of officials at all levels.

Natalie Garcia
ngarcia@correodelcaroni.comEsta email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Photo William Urdaneta



The ministry is focusing efforts toward industrialized Bolivar Mining is a mining state par excellence, whose main businesses revolve around basic iron and bauxite. In addition to these minerals in the region are gold, diamonds and coltan, the latter recently found at the El Burro, bordering the Amazon.

The Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining (Mibam) has initiated a policy of reorientation of the sector through the formation of joint ventures that generate social welfare to the surrounding towns.

CVG Minerven president Luis Herrera, has been instrumental in this strategy, because until recently, in addition to state his position in the gold-was head of the national leadership and oversight of mine where he led a fight to the inactive concessions were restored to the Venezuelan state to do away with some of the speculation surrounding the precious minerals.

"There's a pretty big advance, the main problem is the recovery of the areas. There is a clear policy not to give more concessions or more extensions, everything is centralized in the state, based on joint ventures, for example sites that were forgotten in quotes because the government is in them, as is the portion of the niobium and tantalum, which is coltan, and have an action to pursue a policy towards the development of the hill and toward the impact zone and Caicos Parguasa Orinoco.

Like development, as well
Indicates the president of the state that the intention of mining Mindefensa Rodolfo Sanz is to promote development in various axes of Bolivar state, and these in turn create welfare and serve the people to revive villages for years have been abandoned to their luck and without state control, which has resulted in some transnational companies are taking advantage of this condition.

In his view the "empowerment of the whole sector is key. We are developing a draft if there is an industrial development should be social development, talk of town planning, health, people feel that change is different, if we generate a policy, implement the plan, but the towns are under the same conditions it is meaningless, I think there is the point. "

Added to this Herrera believes that the Venezuelan State has to conduct a national exploration plan, "regardless" to plan the development based on potential and to determine how much wealth is usable in the territory.

All this must go hand in hand with economic structures that do not leave isolated villages and to enable their people to achieve higher standards of quality of life, reflected in health, education and infrastructure.

Invest to grow
To achieve this view that "the budget for the mining issue should be most urgently, is said to be more ambitious and have a sense because it allows us for example that in this crisis only with diamond and gold have a backup, but We can not wait for another crisis to realize that we have to invest. "

Herrera explained that the state of Bolivar has three development centers: one for Caicara area of the Orinoco and the border of Amazonas state, another in the south between Upata and Kilometer 88, and another to Santa Elena de Uairen, where the ministry must decide whether mining, or drives decides to take her to a minimum.

"We intend to mount a joint venture in Guaniamo-diamond-mine the other is to mount a granite company in the area, a bauxite, coltan, four, and the aluminum plant are five, plus the third bridge that will to be a hub of development and are specific points, diamond, bauxite, granite, coltan-a super-conductor used in electronics and aluminum.

Minerven responsible warns that many companies interested in investing in the 48 thousand hectares of land that has Minerva, and they plan to enter transactions and not in the speculative market, which often negotiate concessions with others and play with the stock market without actually investing in mines and generate social welfare.

From shop real axis activation mining villages in the south would benefit most because their economies may be re-activated, with jobs and trade.

"You claim to revive the fields that are in Sifontes, the site of Brisas del Cuyuni also the site of Chicano, The Focus also activate investments but from the operational point of view. Tin is a joint venture with the cooperative that is in the area, we are looking to maximize resources to recoup the investment, increase production and channeling appropriations request and we move forward. "

Vices of the past
Despite all the good intentions of the ministry, Luis Herrera admits that "it is difficult to set up a policy where people are used to receive the dollars, and expect them to be the gringos who come to do something. We have the vision to seek the dollars, but working with them and those who come, but we do things. "

He warns that in addition to this there is complicity on the part of some factors involved with the issue of mines and that this makes the sector a real system, and this because many years have been handled deposits low interest schemes, which often are related to powerful multinationals, which have left little or nothing to the towns adjacent to their developments.

Leaving the subject of large-scale mining, Luis Herrera is among those who think small-scale mining and industrialization should be ordered, thus avoiding the use of mercury.

"We can not see the miner as something messy, there are small developments, small businesses. The other thing to consider is the control, we must see that many Peruvians, Colombians have in this sector. There must be a global order, then we have put together a plan for the sector, which can not be giving a platform because it appears that lots of people. "

Foreign Investments

The Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining, according to Luis Herrera, president of CVG Minerven has on its agenda to encourage foreign investment in the country, but only if companies are willing to make joint ventures that allow the Venezuelan State to have a presence in business, achieve technology transfer and knowledge sharing.

Some of the countries with which the Venezuelan government has signed letters of intent for land use miners are South Africa, Russia, some Arab countries and Latin American countries like Ecuador, where Venezuela will contribute to the operation of a site with advice from the staff of Minerva.

The goal of Minerven gold production this year is 8 tons, yet this can not be accomplished by the many operational difficulties that have arisen in recent months, which has reduced the productivity of the