Venezuela to Double Gold Production http://www.vattal.com/news/venezuela-to-double-gold-production/

Caracas, May 18 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela Monday announced that it will increase its annual gold production from the current 4.2 tonnes to 10 tonnes next year. The government has set the goal of raising annual gold production by more than double in the next year, said Jose Khan, Minister of basic Industries and Mining. 

Production volume could triple and reach 15 tonnes by 2012, he told journalists, while showing Chinese officials the Capitan Eduardo Vera ore-processing plant.  Venezuela currently has gold reserves of 360.7 tonnes. A Chinese delegation is in southern Venezuela with an eye towards forming joint ventures to exploit the region’s vast deposits of iron, bauxite and gold. 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Caracas and Beijing are working on establishing a ‘colossal strategy’ to ‘raise and strengthen’ the production of Venezuela’s basic industries, chiefly iron and aluminium. Venezuela’s reserves of iron and bauxite amount to 14,000 and 6,000 tonnes, respectively.