Concept of gold mining concessions disadvantaged in new draft Mining Law; opens the door to joint ventures via operation contracts!

VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Officials say that the Parliamentary Energy & Mines Committee of the Venezuelan National Asembly (AN) will start a process of discussion and consultation with interested parties related to a new draft Mining Law proposal within the next 15 days before handing over to a plenary session for the final three hearings to be concluded before the end of this parliamentary session.

Committee chairman Angel Rodriguez says the draft law governing mining activities in Venezuela was discussed at the beginning of 2007 with a view to it being included under special enabling legislation, authorizing President Hugo Chavez Frias to Decree immediate economic measures, but that the draft was subsequently frozen after it was submitted to the Venezuelan Mining Chamber (Camiven) and other sector agencies in the initial stage of public consultation.

Earlier this week, Basic Industries & Mining (Mibam) Minister, Rodolfo Sanz, said he believed that the new law would be submitted to the AN before the end of the current session.

Deputy Rodriguez says that the Energy & Mines Committee wants to know what progress Minister Sanz (who has been in overall charge of the law project recommendations) has made so that the debate may begin and due consultations are taken into consideration to create a full consensus of opinion.

Camiven vice president, Luis Rojas, complains that little or nothing has been known of the new legislation since it was first mooted by Mibam four and a half years ago. "Clearly the government is still in charge of the proposal and we have made a number of comments but there was never a specific outcome or response from Mibam," Rojas says although he claims it will put the concept of concessions at a disadvantage and open the door to joint ventures via operation contracts.

Rojas says the economic-political idea has already been implemented in the shape of the recent agreement with the Russian Agapov Group's Rusoro Mining on a 50/50 joint venture to exploit gold at La Camorra and Isidro. He believes that gold mining in Venezuela will continue to decrease in production volume because of the current impasse on environmental permits, which is a serious roadblock to many projects and has affected the flow of much-needed investments.