Spanish conquistadors and British fortune-seekers never found El Dorado -- where even the streets were believed to be paved with gold -- despite countless expeditions, deaths and dashed hopes.
Now their modern-day counterparts, multinational companies, are back, lured by a more tangible $115 billion worth of the precious metal estimated to lie under swamps and jungles of the southeastern Bolivar state.
"El Dorado explorers weren't all that wrong actually," said Pedro Tinoco, president of Venezuela's private Chamber of Mines. "There's a lot of gold out there in virgin territory."
About 50 private companies from South Africa to Canada are currently exploring in Venezuela, trying to find an estimated 9,000 tons of gold reserves and calculate how much of this is profitable to mine.
The government predicts these firms will help more than treble Venezuela's total gold output to 50 metric tons a year by 2000 and propel the South American nation into the top 10 of world gold producers.
"Everyone has always concentrated on oil here, but now at last we are focusing properly on the gold industry," said Jose Francisco Arata, vice president of mining for the state heavy industries' company Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana.
Arata predicted investment of $5 billion in the gold sector, almost all of it private, and the creation of six to eight major mines by 2000.
The company's mine in El Callao, a scruffy town in the heart of Bolivar, is now Venezuela's only large-scale gold mine.
Not everyone, however, is celebrating Venezuela's anticipated gold boom.
Thousands of small-scale prospectors, including local Venezuelans and illegal miners from neighboring Brazil, make a livelihood from panning and digging for gold in Bolivar.
They fear being driven out of business by the international firms, who are leasing large tracts of land from the state company and employing small armies of guards to protect them.
Pastora Medina, a legislator from Bolivar and a member of the left-wing Radical Cause Party, condemned the influx of foreign companies "as a mad and irresponsible give-away of our gold industry by the government."
She said many of the state's 1 million inhabitants would be condemned to poverty. "The gold industry should stay in state hands so that Venezuela can benefit," she added.
Environmentalists and indigenous groups have also expressed fears over the impact of a rush of large-scale mining during the next decade.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.