Venezuela to offer Russians Crystallex gold project

CARACAS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela said it will offer a joint venture to Russian-owned miner Rusoro (RML.V: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to operate the Las Cristinas and Brisas gold projects, currently under contract to two Canadian companies, Mining minister Rodolfo Sanz on Thursday.

He told a Russian delegation that a memorandum of understanding would soon be signed with Rusoro.

It appeared that Sanz intends to replace the Canadian companies who operate the projects that contain some of Latin America's largest gold deposits, with Rusoro, but he did not mention their names.

Las Cristinas is currently operated by Canada's Crystallex (KRY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which had waited for years for an environmental permit to start building a mine at the site. The minister on Wednesday said that the government was taking control of Las Cristinas and would start the mine next year.

Nearby Brisas is operated by Gold Reserve (GRZ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which had also been waiting for permits to start mining the gold and copper deposit. (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel)