CARACAS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela said it will offer ajoint venture to Russian-owned miner Rusoro (RML.V: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to operatethe Las Cristinas and Brisas gold projects, currently undercontract to two Canadian companies, Mining minister RodolfoSanz on Thursday.

He told a Russian delegation that a memorandum ofunderstanding would soon be signed with Rusoro.

It appeared that Sanz intends to replace the Canadiancompanies who operate the projects that contain some of LatinAmerica's largest gold deposits, with Rusoro, but he did notmention their names.

Las Cristinas is currently operated by Canada's Crystallex(KRY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which had waited for years for an environmentalpermit to start building a mine at the site. The minister onWednesday said that the government was taking control of LasCristinas and would start the mine next year.

Nearby Brisas is operated by Gold Reserve (GRZ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) whichhad also been waiting for permits to start mining the gold andcopper deposit.(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Writing by Frank