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Venezuela's kleptocratic regime gives gold, oil industries to military
The Bloody Grab for Gold in Venezuela's Most Dangerous Town
By Andrew Rosati
Bloomberg News
Monday, April 9, 2018
In Venezuela's gold capital, national guardsmen block the roads. Military convoys and motorcycles circle while soldiers keep wary watch behind sandbag checkpoints or patrol with faces covered by balaclavas and rifles in hand.
The military has been fighting for months to master El Callao, the dangerous nation's most dangerous town, and a beachhead in efforts to develop a mineral-rich region the government calls the Arco Minero del Orinoco. President Nicolas Maduro granted the army the handsome prize, a move that helps ensure the unpopular autocrat's power. But the takeover has been punctuated by blood and bullets as soldiers raid neighborhoods and clandestine mines across 70,000 square miles from Colombia to Guyana, asserting themselves over gang lords and claiming revenue both legal and illicit.
... Dispatch continues below ...
Cobalt Blockchain Announces Supply Agreement
for Cobalt Concentrate from DRC Artisanal Mines Co-op
Company Announcement
Friday, April 6, 2018
TORONTO -- Cobalt Blockchain Inc. (TSXV:COBC) announced today that it has successfully negotiated a supply agreement with one of the largest local mining cooperatives in the Lualaba province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Commencing in June 2018, the company will be supplied with a minimum of 40,000 tonnes of cobalt concentrate per year, with a minimum grade of 1 percent cobalt.
"This is a significant milestone in our strategy to generate near-term cash flow," noted Lance Hooper, Cobalt Blockchain president and chief operating officer. "Supply agreements with established mining cooperatives complement our plans for larger-scale, mechanized production activities on mineral concessions in our property portfolio." ...
... For the remainder of the announcement:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/cobalt-blockchain-announces-supply...
On Feb. 10 the army seized weapons, burned vehicles and killed 18 civilians -- including a woman and a youth -- in one of the deadliest clashes since the project's inception. Many victims were shot in the head and face, according to police photos and death certificates obtained by Bloomberg.
Soldiers "know that they can benefit from the uniform they're wearing," said Miguel Linares, 31, a trucker who ran gasoline to mines -- and whose 34-year-old brother, Tigue, and close friend Carlos Alfredo Brito were among the dead.
"You have to pay," he said. "They can put you in jail."
Maduro faces a May 20 election with support from only about a fifth of the population and he is turning over swathes of the economy to the 160,000-member military, the strongest power in a failing state. Active and retired officers hold 14 of 32 cabinet posts. Soldiers have replaced many of the 80 state oil company leaders whom Maduro has imprisoned since August. The ports have been militarized and the Defense Ministry oversees the hungry nation's food supply. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-04-09/the-bloody-grab-for-g...
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