-->Venezuela's Chavez says mining revocations"legal"
10/26/2003 2:54:07 PM
By Pascal Fletcher
CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday defended his government's recent cancellation of mining concessions as"absolutely legal", saying some foreign miners and their local business allies were stealing gold and diamonds without paying taxes.
"This is a country that is recovering its independence little by little, bit by bit (from) the oligarchy and their transnational allies," the left-wing president said during his weekly"Hello President" television and radio show.
Chavez, a tough-talking nationalist who has proclaimed a self-styled"revolution" in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, said he recently authorized the revocation of a big diamond concession situated in Venezuela's Amazonas state.
"The minister brought me the revocation order, all absolutely legal... so I said 'Go on, I authorize it, revoke the concession'," the president said. He did not identify the company or companies involved by name.
His government has taken action in recent months against at least two foreign mining firms, raising fears about the security of foreign mining activities in Venezuela.
In early September, the Ministry of Energy and Mines revoked a significant chunk of diamond and gold concessions held by a U.S.-controlled company, Guaniamo Mining Co. Ltd., saying the firm had failed to pay taxes.
Guaniamo Mining, which has been operating in the western corner of mineral-rich Bolivar state that borders on Amazonas state, disputes the allegations of unpaid taxes and is still planning to start mining later this year.
At the end of July, the ministry cancelled a technical cooperation accord between its National Geology and Mining Institute and the world's No. 1 diamond company De Beers.
De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by Anglo American Plc <AGLJ.J> (UK:AAL), suspended all exploration in Venezuela and denied allegations by the ministry that it had failed to fulfill aspects of the accord and had acted illegally.
Referring to the revoked Amazonas diamond concession, which he did not clearly identify, Chavez said its operators had built jungle airstrips and flown in planes.
"They take away diamonds, they take away Venezuelan gold, they don't pay a cent of taxes... they sometimes destroy the jungle," he added.
INVESTMENT FEARS
Chavez blamed corrupt past governments for allowing these destructive mining activities which he said had"massacred Indians" and harmed local small miners.
The Venezuelan president, a former paratrooper elected in 1998, has said he welcomes foreign capital.
But opponents say his revolutionary rhetoric and interventionist policies have spooked many foreign investors and created a climate hostile to private business.
"That's why they don't like me, because I didn't come here to do shady business deals," Chavez said Sunday.
He said he would sack any member of his cabinet who became involved in illegal business activities and would put them on trial if necessary.
Chavez praised his Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez, who issued a surprise decree last month announcing his ministry was taking over control of all of the country's mining contracts and concessions. This included those previously administered by the state holding company Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana.
But ministry officials have taken pains to stress that foreign mining companies whose contracts and concessions are up-to-date and within the law have nothing to fear from the decree.
Canadian miner Crystallex International Corp. (CA:KRY), which is developing the big Las Cristinas gold deposit, and U.S. miner Hecla Mining Co. (HL), which also operates in Bolivar state, have said they do not expect their holdings to be affected. (Additional reporting by Silene Ramirez)
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