Chavez Will Nationalize Venezuela's Gold Industry

The president wants to take advantage of his country's large reserves while prices are still rising

Gold prices just keep on climbing and Venezuela does not want to miss out. As the commodity reaches new highs, President Hugo Chavez announced that he wants those earnings for the state, reports Reuters. "I have here the laws allowing the state to exploit gold and all related activities ... we are going to nationalize the gold and we are going to convert it, among other things, into international reserves because gold continues to increase in value," Chavez said in a phone call to state television. Venezuela, which has some of the largest gold deposits in Latin America, produces 4.3 tons of gold a year. Gold will be just the latest state-controlled inudstry, joining oil, cement and rice processing, to name a few.