Venezuela cracks down on sale, export of domestic gold reserves

An announcement published by the Finance Ministry in Venezuela's official legal gazette orders that at least 60% of the nation's domestic gold production be first offered to the country's Central Bank.

RENO, NV - 

Venezuela's Finance Ministry now requires that 70% of the gold mined in Venezuela must be solid domestically and that 60% must be offered first to the Central Bank, while the remaining 30% can be exported.

The resolution issued by new Minister for Economy & Finance, Nelson Merentes, also mandates, "In cases where the producer does not intend to export the gold or has been denied permission to do so, the gold should be offered for sale in its entirety to the Central Bank of Venezuela."

In interviews with Bloomberg and VHeadline Venezuela News, Vancouver's Rusoro Mining CEO Andre Agapov said the company will still have the right to sell its gold elsewhere if the Central Bank does not purchase it. He also noted it was a sign that the Venezuelan Government is now in control of its sovereign resources.

Rusoro's gold sales are already made wholly to the domestic Venezuelan market, Agapov said, adding that all and any income derived from Russian gold sales in Venezuela would be directly re-invested in Venezuela.

Agapov said the regulation should not change much as far as U.S. and Canadian companies are concerned because they have had no recent production of gold in the country. He also asserted there is not much likelihood of any significant production from either Las Cristinas or the Las Brisas gold projects, given the Venezuelan Government's efforts to take control of both properties.

Philip Gotthelf, the president of Equidex Brokerage Group in New Jersey, suggested to Bloomberg that the resolution may be the first step in rebuilding government gold reserves on expectations that the U.S. dollar will weaken. 

SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now.

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning,  and concluding, 24 hours later,  in the Vancouver evening.  If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com

Print story      Email story      Subscribe to free newsletter

Back

 

responses to this article

PMG Dorothy, I suggest that you examine the current activity at PMG to see the real effect of this new law. by Divad Nosregor on May 23 2009, 08:07 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Name
Subject
Comment