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• Only slightly more than 20 percent of contracts awarded by the CVG for medium andlarge-scale mining have up-to-date permits for occupying the area of the concession. Nearlythree quarters of the contracts awarded by the CVG lack environmental permits forexploration. None of the contracts listed in CVG records has been awarded anenvironmental permit for extraction. 91• A large number of permit requests are still pending in the Ministry of Environment. TheMinistry of Environment has not given a response in over 40 percent of requests for permitsto occupy the contract area. Most of the contracts are located in protected areas (ABRAE),which means the Ministry must take the objectives of the protected area into account whenevaluating whether to grant environmental permits for mining.• According to the CVG, there are twenty-five additional small-scale mining areas. Permitshave been obtained to occupy land in 40 percent of these areas, and permits are pending forthe remainder. Approximately 29 percent of these areas have permits for exploration. 92Some mining companies have engaged in exploration without active environmental permits.Few mining companies are actively engaged in exploration or extraction on their concessions, due tothe depressed gold market. However, a review of corporate news releases suggests that:• Nearly one quarter of foreign companies with holdings in Venezuela appear to haveactively explored on their contracts without the required environmental permits. 93• Tombstone Explorations announced drilling results in 1997 on its Valle Hondo and Zuloconcessions despite the fact that the company has not applied for environmental permits tooccupy the territory or to conduct exploration activities. 94• QUESTION 9 How does mining impact the forests of the Guayana region?Small-scale mining has negative health and environmental impacts in the Guayana region.The impact of small-scale mining on the forests of the Guayana region has not been well documented.A few localized studies and the existing literature indicate that:• In the 1990s, sedimentation in the sub-watersheds of the Caroní River increased by 1.3 to 2times the amount registered in the 1980s. Areas of active small-scale mining registered thehighest rates of sedimentation, with more than three times normal levels. 95 The CaroníRiver supplies water and electricity not just to the region, but to other parts of the countryas well.• At the levels of production estimated for small-scale miners in the Guayana region,mercury released into the environment is likely to be more than 10 tonnes per year. 96Mercury exposure can have serious human health impacts (see Box 8).• Several studies conducted in the lower Caroní River during the early 1990s found thatmercury had not yet resulted in contaminating sources of drinking water. However, oneanalysis found that some fish species in the river were already beginning to demonstrate62