Russia to help run Venezuelan gold mine

Venezuela and Russia have joined hands to run the Las Cristinas gold mine in Venezuela.According to reports, Las Cristinas mine is believed to hold one of South America’s largest gold resources and was previously held by Canadian miner Crystallex, which struggled to secure the required permits to develop it.Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has announced that the state is assuming control of production at the property, which will be operated by the Venrus joint venture.The joint company with Russia will help Venezuela meet a goal of increasing gold production to 8.2 tonnes during 2009.Owned by Venezuelan state mining consortium CVG, speculation has grown that Russian-funded firm Rusoro will become involved in managing the Las Cristinas gold mine.Located on the northern coast of South America, Venezuela is run by a socialist government and has a growing gold mining industry.