A senior Colombian minister said Canadian miner Ventana Gold Corp. is not likely to lose its rights to the La Bodega project. That has to rank as extremely good news for the company and its shareholders.

Vancouver-based Ventana was the single hottest gold story of 2009 after the company made a potentially huge discovery on its La Bodega property in Northeast Colombia.

But Ventana ran into a major problem last November, when the company owning the mineral rights to La Bodega reneged on an option agreement to sell it to Ventana and took Ventana to arbitration instead.

At the PDAC conference, Hernan Martinez Torres, Colombia’s minister of mines and energy, said he thinks that Ventana has the legal rights to the project and will not lose it.

“I don’t think they are going to lose their rights,” he said in a meeting with reporters. He added that the dispute will simply take time to resolve, “Like any old legal dispute.”

Mr. Torres declined comment on the proposed sale of Colombia’s Frontino gold mine, which is unpopular with some local people.

Peter Koven