Monday, September 8, 2008

Agapov to invest US$15 million in El Callao; Russian consortium includes social projects in plans for community welfare

VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Million $ construction work on a 1,750 meters-long access ramp to a gold mine in Sifontes community was begun in May this year as part of a capital investment by the Russian Agapov Group and is part of an overall project in cooperation with the Venezuelan government to improve conditions for local mine workers at the Isidora and La Camorra mines previously held by US-Idaho-based Hecla Mining, sold to Agapov's Russoro Mining earlier this year and now subject to a "socialist" 50/50 joint venture arrangement with the Venezuelan government.

Quoted in today's issue of the local newspaper Correo del Caroni, Agapov's local manager Jose Manuel Rodriguez says the access to the underground mine will not have any deleterious effect on local communities since the area was already affected by mining and no additional harm is being done to the sensitive environment.

Agapov's technical manager Pedro Luis Lopez explains that to reach the mineralized body, where the gold is, the ramp will have a 12 percent drop and construction is already at a depth of 150 meters going down to a projected eight hundred meters deep and reaching a distance of one or two kilometers depending on the resource. Lopez says that mining advisers familiar with the workings are cooperating with Agapov ... "we have some 25 people working in continuous shifts and once we increase the manpower to about 100 per shift we should finish by next February. We have had many complications with saphrolite in the ground and this has been a key problem making progress difficult to achieve ... despite the high-tech equipment we use, we were unable to use explosives, so the ramp is being dug with hydraulic hammers and breakers which reduce productivity ... we have advanced about 92 meters and after 120 meters, I believe we can start using explosives."

Agapov's investments in southeastern Bolivar State are also scheduled to include the processing of China clay (kaolinite) used to make ceramics and a project is in hand to build a 'Ceramics City' in nearby French Guiana to generate thousands of jobs in the production of porcelain.

VHeadline Venezuela News
vheadline@gmail.com

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