BNamericas cited Mr Luis Rojas president of Venezuela's mining chamber Camiven as saying that mining is showing signs of recovery during Q4.

Mr Rojas said that the rebound is most evident in non metallic mining but it's also noticeable in that Ferrominera Orinoco has been producing a bit more iron ore and Bauxilum has improved bauxite production levels at the Pijigüaos mine.

He said that mining's contribution to the country's GDP has fallen by about 70% over the past 3 years. Now during this last quarter we are seeing growth in some operations after various quarters with a downward trend in mining's GDP contribution.

According to the central bank mining's contribution to GDP fell by 11.9% in 2010 alone. However, Camiven claims that this figure is 20% due to the lack of investments and low production levels.

1. Gold;
Mr Rojas said that given the new legislation that transfers gold production to the state, the yellow metal should be excluded from projections. We have to concentrate on the metals that we can produce such as iron ore, on the mineral aggregates for construction and industrial minerals where I believe we will make rapid progress.

2. Coal;
Mr Rojas said that in terms of coal, there has been a very big decrease in production and measures to revive the industry need to be sought. At a time when fuel prices are at a maximum, we are producing less coal and I think we can change that.

(Sourced from Business News Americas)