CVG-Minerven president Luis Herrera et.al. accused of clandestine negotiations behind the backs of Miraflores Palace AND President Hugo Chavez Frias.
VHeadline Venezuela News reports: A press release from the Venezuelan Mining Observatory claims that the state-owned Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) gold mining subsidiary CVG-Minerven has been negotiating with trans-national corporations behind the backs of the National Executive (Miraflores Palace) and President Hugo Chavez Frias.
A number of clandestine meetings have taken place in which offers were made to sell several mines ...including some that can not be commercially exploited because of an express prohibition put in place by the National Executive ... as a result, the Venezuelan State could face legal action and international arbitration if it closes any agreement with US, European and/or Russian investors.
The Venezuelan mining observatory claims that a senior executive from a leading Colorado-based firm was brought secretly to Venezuela under the pretext of international arbitration to determine the value and potential of gold mines in the south of the country, aiming to offer concessions on the international market and attract US and European capitalists to exploit the gold in direct conflict with policies laid down by President Hugo Chavez.
Top executives at the CVG -- including the president of CVG-Minerven, Luis Herrera -- played host on the occasion of several visits to CVG offices in (south-eastern) Bolivar State to mining expert Neal Rigby, chairman of SRK Consulting, a mining group that specializes in the worldwide sale of mines.
Rigby's visit is said by the Venezuelan mining observatory to have been part of a low-profile strategy by CVG-Minerven which including other (clandestine) meetings in several European cities. According to intelligence sources and people close to the talks between CVG-Minerven and Rigby, (Luis) Herrera offered to deliver several projects for sale ... including Las Cristinas, which is already contracted by the CVG to Canadian gold-mining corporation Crystallex.
Rigby was also taken to other mining concessions which are currently under dispute, such as the Las Brisas del Cuyuni gold field which (until last year) was under the control of USA-based Gold Reserve. Rigby's visit, which was unknown to senior officials in Caracas, was just one of several rounds of negotiations with international gold production companies that have taken place in and outside Venezuela. In mid-June, a special commission traveled to Paris-France for confidential meetings with representatives from several Russian companies.
Engineer Ramon Olivares, (who was) liaison between Crystallex and the CVG, reported on August 31 about an inspection a
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