Venezuela is seeking to develop the country’s gold and diamond mining, but it needs loans to do so. Parties financially assisting Venezuela will be partially paid with the mineral output from these projects, President Hugo Chavez said in a recent Reuters’ report.
Chavez didn’t specify the amount needed to get the country’s gold and diamond mining projects running. But as Chavez continues to nationalize mining, oil and other key sectors of Venezuela’s economy, investors will most likely be forced into joint ventures with a government majority.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.
“We are on the verge of acquiring a credit with several institutions and countries to invest in the exploitation of gold, diamonds and precious metals. And we will pay a part of this credit with that production,” Chavez said at a recent summit of a left-wing trade alliance he leads.
Last Wednesday, Venezuela’s government also said, “it will not renew mining concessions after they expire as part of efforts to move the sector toward joint ventures and operations contracts,” according to the Reuters’ report.
“We have halted the policy of concessions, we are moving toward joint ventures and eventually to operating contracts,” added Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz.
Last month Venezuela ended two concessions held by US-based miner Gold Reserve in one of Latin America’s largest gold deposits.
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