Some of this confusion seems to be a translation issue. A river "bed" in english infers the actual area under the river. There is no way that they are going to be mining a river bed and no way that it could comprise anything like the area under discussion. Mining a river bed infers dredging for alluvial gold, which is one of the most environmentally damaging way of destroying the river and spoiling the water.

Obvious the correct interpretation is the river "basin" which by definition includes all the drainage area that flows into the river and tributories and would include Las Cristinas and Las Brisas.

However there seem to be "exclusion areas" within that "basin" of the "wooded areas". What comprises a "wooded area" is a subjective decision and knowing the Venezuelans, they could spend a lot of time defining both the term and the extent without coming to a firm decision.

Logically, there is not much point in allowing gold mining in an area where there was no gold, but logic doesn't seem to have a very high priority in Venezuela..

Best of luck to all...