VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Basic Industries & Mines (Mibam) Minister Rodolfo Sanz says he is waiting a response about investment appropriation and national plans for industrial mining that were drawn up during the early months of President Hugo Chavez' now almost 10-year administration. Sanz is calling on gold miners throughout the deprived southeastern region of Guayana to have patience and they will "soon have answers." He added that he has given order to include worker pensions to CVG general service personnel as well as direct CVG employees.
Among recently agreed terms in a 67-point list of union demands, Sanz says that more than four hundred workers will have a half hour paid time for lunch and better working clothes among 65 items agreed following a socio-economic survey at the state-owned industrial conglomerate, the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) of which he is also president and CEO.
Asked about the adequacy of environmental compliance at companies within the CVG, Sanz says that the situation is currently serious but "investments in adequate technology must come, and then we can adapt to improve the environment ... President Chavez is about to decide on this, and we are identifying how we can get it all going ... we have everything ready in minute detail."
"We have seen agreements with the Russians, and on Wednesday next, I will be delivering Bs.F 13 billion (US$6.05 billion) for nine approved mining projects ... I will be going to El Callao on Monday and in 15 days we will deliver more credits. In the Raul Leoni area we are defining a source of resources to make conversation compensation payments and I want to see if I close this chapter, and I hope to do the same with the other credits ... we have a solution in progress, so I ask for patience and to give us about 15 days -- I'm studying proposals to give resources tobuild some pools, guest houses etc., in La Paragua and the Infrastructure Minister has talked with the State Governor (Francisco Rangel Gomez) to provide machinery to repair the roads."
Sanz says that everything is set to restart CVG-Minerven's Block B holdings at Isidora and La Camorra next Wednesday. Asked what he's going to do with the tailings left behind by USA-Idaho-based Hecla mining, he said "there is gold in those tailings which are NOT in the hands of the Russians; they belong to the Venezuelan State. We will make arrangements for them to be socially assigned to the community. In agreement with the Russians there is more than Bs.F 29 million ($13.5 million) available plus $5 million I already have, and $1 million more from PMG that will go to the communities along with Bs.F 12 billion more ($5.6 million).
The CVG president & CEO says he will be turning over two buses to the township of Pijiguao and that work will start on construction of an aqueduct. Additional resources are already destined for the community Venezuelan Army Core 19 HQ will be benefit with much-needed improvements to the local roads which are in worse condition than in La Paragua.
Meanwhile, CVG-Minerven labor managers Jesus Guerra and Camilo Torres have denounced deliberate distortion of news about the company and have urged Minister Rodolfo Sanz not to respond to "negative information." They have asked local newspapers to warn the people of El Dorado, Guasipati and El Callao about manipulation of media reports presumably intended to wsork against the interests of the workers. Jesus Guerra explains that CVG-Minerven is in a transition phase to regain its position within the CVG heavy industry conglomerate ... "CVG-Minerven is the only state enterprise that guarantees jobs to local inhabitants in the gold-mining region where we operate," he said.
The Bolivar State Legislative Council has also promulgated a series of penalties for violation of human rights, as well as labor and union corruption, as well as citing the current president of the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security (IVSS), Carlos Rotondaro who they claim has deliberately maintained silence to protect "these bandits who did harm to workers and the heritage of the Republic" over allegations of administrative corruption. At least 46 allegedly illegal layoffs were made during Rotondaro's mis-management and wages were deliberately withholding over alleged discrepancies.
Rotondaro is alleged to have had a "close relationship" with several transnational companies and that some gold mining companies were "producing a lot more than they reported ... then they modified contracts that had been granted to them indefinitely."
Labor representatives have called in Mibam Minister Rodolfo Sanz be careful about his sources of information to avoid decisions that may be harmful to both the CVG and his Ministry since, allegedly, transnational corporations like the Agapov Group/Rusoro sees "the two government agencies as enemies because they fear expropriation."
Sanz, however, believes that there is no longer any collusion of government officials in the pay of the transnationals and rejects suggestions that the President himself is "misinformed" by absentee gold-mine owners who ultimately will act against the country. Guerra also recommends Minister Sanz to "not to be fooled" over the future of the Crystallex mine at Las Cristinas since it has grown into the heart of the nation's strategic wealth.
CVG-Minerven union leader Camilo Torres says that the company (Minerven) is penalized when selling gold to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) inasmuch as it must pay a royalty of 1.5% worked out on the official exchange rate for the US$ while the other companies are allowed to trade gold freely. This means that the State's revenues from CVG-Minerven's production of some 4,280 kilos of gold per year -- earmarked for taking care of community social problems -- is considerably reduced because everything is under strict supervision and control.
VHeadline Venezuela News
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