May 30, 2005
Venezuelan government aims to develop Bolívar state's mining areas jointly

(BNamericas.com) - "Venezuela's Mining and Basic Industry Ministry (Mibam) along with the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (Marn) are working together on a plan to develop nearly 40,000ha of mining areas in the state of Bolívar, a Marn official told BNamericas.

'We are carrying out analysis and studies based on that the mining projects in the area so they produce as little damage as possible. Basically, the water resources need to be managed in a better way,' said the head of Marn's national permitting office, Sergio Rodríguez.

The joint approach would imply support not only for the Las Cristinas and Las Brisas gold projects, 'but also to other projects that are operating in the region,' he said.

An official from the same ministry told BNamericas that the idea is to see any environmental damage from a wider perspective, and not see each development separately, and so avoid double investment in remediation.

'The idea is to study the possibility of integrating these projects Las Brisas-Las Cristinas based on their primary needs, looking for solutions in a joint and participative way,' the official added (...)

Asked about the date for approving the environmental impact permit for Las Cristinas, which is now being analyzed, the official said the Ministry is studying many issues and added that when one of the issues is resolved, all will be revealed. 'We will not deal with the issues separately but the result will be a uniform regulation for all the mining projects, that is what we are discussing,' Rodríguez said (...)".