News

July 24, 2008

Rusoro Mining: The Matchmaker

By Rob Davies

Mining and politics don’t usually mix well, but sometimes there is really no alternative. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made no secret of his dislike of the US and, as a kind of socialist, you can see why he might be attracted to Russia. That said, Russia is not much of a utopia for the workers these days. But recently both Venezuela and Russia have at least shown a preponderance towards left-leaning populists, so there’s some common ground there.

And in the eyes of Mr Chavez the greatest virtue the Russians have is that they are not American, and that virtue makes them better potential partners. He visited Moscow recently to improve relations. George Salamis, president of Rusoro, makes the point too that Venezuela and Russia are big trading partners these days, mostly in arms, which is food for thought. Using Rusoro as the intermediary seems a brilliant way of bringing the two together. The deal bringing Russians into Venezuela through...