September 23, 2010

Rusoro Is Still Enmeshed In The Financial Shenanigans Of The Venezuelan Government, But New Chinese Arrivals May Sort Things Out

By Charles Wyatt

“He who rides a tiger finds it difficult to dismount”. And so it is with the Agapov family, which has been running Rusoro Mining in Venezuela since 2002, with a little help from good relations with the government. Indeed, at one time, Hugo Chavez, President of Venzuela, declared that when it came to exploiting the gold assets of Venezuela, Rusoro was the country’s chosen partner. But that was before gold was actually being produced in any quantity from Rusoro’s Choco 10 mine and mill. When it was, Chavez licked his lips at the thought of real money coming into his poverty stricken country, and the relationship between the Agapovs and the Venezuelan government seems to have deteriorated.

Interestingly, there are stories currently in circulation that the Chinese are about to make an entrance on the scene, through a deal with another Canadian listed company, Valgold. Valgold has three groups of licences on the Guiana Shield which forms the northern part of the Amazon Craton in Bolivar State, in the north of the country, where Rusoro’s license are also located. Two Valgold’s blocks are about 40 kilometres from Rusoro’s Kilometre 88 exploration ground, itself just north of the...