.....Crystallex. It most be a Venezuela's pattern ; they are almost ready to go and they are ordered to rework their geological studies because ground anomalies.

they dangle the carrot for a while and then they make it disappear.

There are lots of activities from all sorts of projects from mining to manufacturing but they all seam to stall at a certain point.

Would it be possible that all these companies haven't got large enough envelopes to push under the desk ?.

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Naricual told to do more studies before starting coal operations - Venezuela

Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 16:30 (GMT-0400)

Venezuelan miner Carbones Nueva Naricual, which holds coal areas in Anzoátegui state, will be required to perform new geological studies to determine its chances of developing the deposits.

"The company hasn't been able to begin production because of geological defects that were discovered," an official from Venezuela's basic industries and mining ministry (Mibam) told BNamericas.

The official added that the complex terrain is forcing the company to carry out new hydro-geological and geotechnical studies in the zone.

The company won the concession to develop the Naricual deposit in 2003. It acquired environmental permits in 2006 and began preparing the site to launch the project.

"But it still hasn't been able to start production because of the geological problems," the official said.

In 2006, a company executive said the project's first phase would involve mining four mantos in the Mallorquín area that would allow the company to reach production of 600,000t/y by 2008.

Phase two would begin with development of the Santa María area, which would bring Naricual's production to 1.2Mt/y.

Nueva Naricual has proven reserves of 16Mt, which make the project feasible for 20 years. It covers 4,500ha, including the areas of Pastora 1-9.

The company's deposits are 12km from the municipality of Barcelona, the most important economic hub in northeastern Venezuela, and 32km from Guanta, one of the country's main ports from which the extracted coal will be exported.