Venezuelan government committed to stimulating SE region through mining
Senior officials said today, that yesterday statements by President Hugo Chavez Frias have again been taken out of context by the mainstream media...
"The government is committed to stimulating the region through mining," we were told this morning in an exclusive interview with VHeadline.com. "The aim is to reclaim dormant/idle projects and to redistribute them to people/groups/companies that will give benefit to the region through employment and activities that create economic stimulation."
"That could be via local cooperatives and/or international mining companies (via operating contracts) ... the government has been talking about this initiative for a long time and it should not be a shock to already operating mining companies since we believe it will simplify mining procedures."
"The thrust of the reform package is that it is going to be more transparent (i.e. no confusion of concessions or contracts -- no ambiguity between the CVG or the MEM as mining sector supervisor --- it’s been a steady progression!"
"Shortly, you will see that it is business as usual for established mining companies with already advancing projects."
In Monday news reports, Reuters had cabled out that Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said he as plans to revoke some gold and diamond concessions and to create a new state mining company as part of a push to increase government control over the nation's mining sector.
Late Sunday night, returning from a visit to the United Nation's General Assembly in New York, Chavez told hundreds of supporters that "we have decided to revoke a group of mining concessions given by past government and this government!"
While the President did not specify which mining projects would be taken over, Basic Industries & Mines Minister Victor Alvarez had already clarified that inactive mines could, with government financial support, be handed over to small mining cooperatives and that the government will no longer authorize new gold and diamond mining concessions.
Canada's Crystallex International/Bolivar Gold, US Hecla and China's Shandong Gold already have a strong foothold in Venezuela with long-term mining contracts that remain unaffected by the President's reform plan ... Crystallex says it expects to start producing at the Las Cristinas gold mine in southeastern Bolivar State as soon as possible after final environmental permit paperwork is cleared.
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