User:Theo Delane/Orinoco Mining Arc

Orinoco Mining Arc (OMA), officially created on February 24, 2016 as the Orinoco Mining Arc National Strategic Development Zone, is an area rich in mineral resources that the Republic of Venezuela has been exploiting since 2017, it occupies mostly the north of the Bolivar state and to a lesser extent the northeast of the Amazonas state and part of the Delta Amacuro state. It has tons of reserves of gold, copper, diamond, coltan, iron, bauxite and other minerals.

Besides the US $100 billion in Coltan, authorities have estimated that up to 7,000 tons of Gold could be certified within the Orinoco Mining Arc, which would make it the second biggest gold reserve in the world. It is also estimated there to be three billion carats in Diamonds in the region, and at least 300 thousand metric tons of rare earth elements:Cerium, Lanthanum, Neodymium and Thorium.

There have been artisanal gold mining for several hundred years, commercial mining for 175 years. According to Roberto Mirabal, former minister of the Popular Power for Ecological Mining Development, the Orinoco Mining Arc has a potential of about 2 trillion dollars.

History
In August 1991, the Orinoco Delta area by Decree No. 1,635 on June 5, 1991, Official Gazette No. 34,767 of August 1, 1991, was declared as a biosphere reserve area as a zone of deltaic tropical ecosystems, where invaluable biological resources are combined.

In 2009 UNESCO included it within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in Latin America and the Caribbean under a program called "the Man and Biosphere Reserve". On February 24, 2016, through decree 2,248 of Official Gazette 40,855, the appointment of the Orinoco Mining Arc National Strategic Development Zone was decreed. Likewise, the decree included certifying and quantifying the mining reserves in this area. In search of sectorizing the region to start the industrial exploitation of mineral resources in the area due to the critical oil situation that Venezuela was going through.

On August 5, 2016, the Minister for Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, announced that "a special unit will be activated for the Orinoco Mining Arc."

On September 7, 2016, the Minister for Ecological Mining Development, Roberto Mirabal, reported that the exploration stage of the Orinoco Mining Arc began and indicated that "every transnational in the Mining Arc must comply with the laws of the State."

Among the objectives of the Orinoco Mining Arc are the diversification of the economy.

The Orinoco Mining Arc (OMA), officially named on February 24, 2016 as the Orinoco Mining Arc National Strategic Development Zone, is an area rich in mineral resources that the Republic of Venezuela has exploited since 2017; it mainly occupies the north of Bolívar state and to a lesser extent the northeast of Amazonas state and part of the Delta Amacuro state. It has 7000 tons of reserves of gold, copper, diamond, coltan, iron, bauxite and other minerals.

The Orinoco Mining Arc covers an area of 111,843.70 km², that is, 12.2% of the Venezuelan territory; doubling the Orinoco Belt.

The Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, the Venezuelan Society of Ecology, the Association of Archaeologists and Archaeologists of Venezuela (AAAV), the National Assembly of Venezuela and the NGO Venezuelan Program of Education Action in Human Rights (PROVEA) have publicly expressed its concern at the non-compliance with environmental and sociocultural impact studies, the violation of rights to prior consultation with indigenous communities, cultural and natural heritage, and national sovereignty.

In 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, denounced that workers in the Orinoco Mining Arc are subjected to serious abuses and violence that have caused at least 149 deaths since 2016. The Mining Arc has been denounced as an illegal extraction activity that has no environmental or social regulation.

Geography
The Orinoco Mining Arc (AMO) is located south of the Orinoco River, in the northern part of Bolívar state. It has a total area of 111 843.70 km². Only 5% of this area will be explored. Once the exploration stage is completed, it is estimated that the exploitation of minerals will be carried out only in 1.5% of the Mining Arc.

It consists of four large areas:


 * Area 1: it is the westernmost area up to the Cuchivero River, where bauxite, coltan, rare-earth elements and diamonds are predominate.
 * Area 2: between the Cuchivero river and the Aro river, with a predominance of iron, non-metallic minerals and alluvial gold.
 * Area 3: between the Aro River and the eastern limit of the Orinoco Mining Arc, gold, iron and bauxite predominate.
 * Area 4: extension of the Mining Arc in the Imataka Mountains, where gold, copper, kaolin and dolomite are predominate.

Politics and government
Throughout its history, the Orinoco Mining Arc has presented a series of incidents.

On November 27, 2018, the High Level Intergovernmental Commission (CIAN, Executive Power of Venezuela) announced new mining projects and agreements with the joint participation of Russia in the first quarter of 2019.

Exploitation and High risk commercialization
Since the creation of OMA in 2016, it has brought unease, mourning and conflicts in society to the mining area, in three states of the country: Bolívar, Guárico and Amazonas. Between April 2016 and September 2018, 40 violent events have occurred in the area designated by decree for the exploitation of strategic materials.

The tragedy of the Tumeremo massacre started investigations related to confrontations with pranes, the ELN group of origin in Colombia, the National Armed Forces and the CICPC, the national government with the creation of a group that would lower tensions through its "Operation Liberation of the People" OLP A plan to combat crime, especially Colombian paramilitarism.