News

June 10, 2008

Peter Hambro Mining Plays The Russian Game In Venezuela, With Rusoro On Board And Crystallex In Its Sights

By Charles Wyatt

Very rarely a deal comes along which is so logical that Minews kicks himself for not thinking of it first. The only excuse is that Peter Hambro has always set himself up as such a fan of Russia that it’s been difficult to visualise Peter Hambro Mining operating elsewhere. In this case he is, in effect, using a bit of lateral thinking to take a bit of Russia with him as he makes an US$80 million strategic investment in Rusoro Mining, a Canadian-listed company run by Russians in Venezuela. This is Hugo Chavez territory and he does not make it particularly easy for resource companies to operate there, particularly those from North America. In fact he has made such a nuisance of himself to Bush with what he calls ‘21st century socialism’ that at some moments it appeared that the US might initiate a military intervention.

Russians, however, are a different matter and Mr Andre Agapov and his family, founders of Rusoro, will confirm that relations with the Venezuelan government have always been cordial. Last year Rusoro consolidated its position in the country by acquiring all of Gold Fields' Venezuelan assets, including the producing Choco 10 mine situated only four kilometers down the road from  Rusoro’s own Increible 6 gold project. As a result of this deal Rusoro became a producer and Gold Fields now has...