I wanted to find out who said what, about VenRus, Russia, VZ, and Chavez. These are from Jan. 09' and onward. This one looks like maybe Rusoro or Agapov had consulted a mergers and acquisition company.

There are a couple of repeats of articles, but I thought it important to see who was publishing them.

from Thomson Financial Mergers & Acquisitions
published Jan 14, 2009

Price $48.00 available for immediate download

VENEZUELA - Venrus planned to acquire the Las Cristinas Gold Mine of Crystallex International Corp, gold mining company.

Acquirer: Venrus
Acquirer Business Discription: Special purpose acq vehicle
Acquirer SIC Code: 6799 - Investors, nec
Target Name: Crystallex Intl-Las Cristinas
Target Business Description: Gold mining
Target Ultimate Parent: Crystallex International Corp
Target SIC Code: 1041 - Gold ores
Please Note: Target Financials are not included in this report.

CARACAS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela has formed a joint venture with a Russian company to operate the massive Las Cristinas gold mine, President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, adding it would begin production in 2009.

Canadian junior miner Crystallex (KRY.TO) waited in vain for years for an environmental permit allowing it to operate the mine, and recently complained that the denial of the permit could lead it to take legal action against the OPEC nation.

The Las Cristinas gold mine is owned by Venezuelan state mining consortium CVG.

"In 2008 we created the joint venture Venrus with Russia, a Russian company and a Venezuelan company, an joint venture for the Las Cristinas fields," Chavez said during a televised address to Congress.

Venezuela's mining minister Rodolfo Sanz told a Russian delegation last year that the socialist government wanted to create a joint venture between Rusoro, (RML.V) a Canadian-based company with Russian capital, to operate Las Cristinas.

News Sunday, 18 Jan 2009 Mr Chavez unveils Russian gold mining venture Sunday, 18 Jan 2009 Moscow Times cited Mr Hugo Chavez president of Venezuelan as saying that Venezuela & Venrus a joint venture of Rusoro Mining and the Venezuelan government was formed to mine Las Cristinas, a deposit containing an estimated 35.2 million ounces of gold. Mr Chavez said that Venezuela wants to develop the mine this year under the control of socialism. The mine covers five concessions, naming 4 where Crystallex International of Toronto has been awaiting permits to begin mining and one concession belonging to Gold Reserve, which is also awaiting a mining permit. He said that "The Venezuelan state is getting ready this year for the exploitation and control of the gold deposit Las Cristinas. Venrus was formed last year.” Las Cristinas has been the subject of decades of changing corporate control. After Placer Dome was permitted to begin mining some of the concessions in 2001 it sold out to Vannessa Ventures. Chavez expropriated the site and awarded it to Crystallex. Gold Reserve has held its concession throughout the saga. Rusoro is a Russian funded company that is buying gold deposits in Venezuela and is in the midst of a hostile takeover bid for Gold Reserve. Venrus is a joint venture between Rusoro and Venezolana de Guayana. Venrus currently operates the Isidora mine, which Rusoro bought from Hecla Mining last year. (Sourced from moscowtimes) Business VENEZUELA: CVG-Minerven president Luis Herrera confirms expropriation of Las Cristinas gold mine and more... Print article Refer to a friend 2009-07-29 02:17:36 - Venezuela's state-owned gold-mining company CVG-Minerven president Luis Herrera has revealed that, to date, the government has expropriated an total of 500,000 hectares in the most important mining regions of the country ... including the Las Cristinas gold mine. "We are rescuing more than half a million hectares which were given out in the form of contracts and concessions to transnational companies since the 1990s," Herrera told ABN (the Venezuela national news agency). VHeadline Venezuela News reports: Herrera emphasizes the expropriation of the Las Cristinas mine (in the south-east of the country) where reserves are estimated at 35.2 million ounces and its operation was in the hands of the Canadian company Crystallex until the end of last year, when the Venezuelan government announced it would assume exploitation, through a Russian-Venezuelan consortium. "The mine is paralyzed because six years ago the state gave the opportunity to Crystallex to run it and all that happened has been speculation in the (North American) stock markets," said Herrera, without specifying when it will be taken back by the State. Sponsored by China Mining TAssociation (CMA) Venezuela, Russian Venture to Mine Las Cristinas Gold Deposit (Bloomberg) Updated: 2009-01-15 09:24 Counter: 450 Venrus CA, a joint venture of Rusoro Mining Corp. and the Venezuelan government, was formed to mine Las Cristinas, a deposit containing an estimated 35.2 million ounces of gold, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. Venezuela wants to develop the mine this year "under the control of socialism," Chavez said on state television late yesterday. The mine covers five concessions, he said, naming four where Crystallex International Corp. of Toronto has been awaiting permits to begin mining and one concession belonging to Gold Reserve Inc., which is also awaiting a mining permit. "The Venezuelan state is getting ready this year for the exploitation and control of the gold deposit Las Cristinas," Chavez said. Venrus was formed last year, he said.