In Venezuela's El Callao mining region, countless small, artisanal miners that once sold gold to the government have left the area in the last year because accessible local supplies are depleted and President Nicolas Maduro has been striking deals with bigger miners, seeking more production and more revenue for the treasury.
Nationalizations in 2011 pushed out private miners and gold production stagnated. Now, Maduro wants to ramp up production by building "strategic alliances" with select private companies, a dozen sources told Reuters. These partnerships are forcing out informal miners in places like El Callao, in the country's south, businessmen, government officials and miners said.
