(Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb.com) Brazil's richest man, Eike Batista, ranked 61st on Forbes' list of The World's Billionaires, announced Wednesday he had upped his shares in Vancouver-based Ventana Gold (TSX: VEN) to a total of 15.5 million common shares for a 17.5% shareholding and controlling interest of the junior explorer.
Batista purchased the interest through his 63X Master Fund, which had previously owned 12.3% of Ventana. The purchase was valued at C$84,744,171.46 (US$80.37 million).
The junior miner's La Bodega gold project in Columbia has captured substantial interest in junior mining circles as the latest round of drilling results Monday caused Ventana's stocks to jump 32.5%.
Batista made his first $5 million in Brazil's gold fields by the time he was 23. From 1986 to 2001 he was the chairman of TVX Gold, serving as its CEO from 1999 to 2001. Kinross Gold would purchase TVX in June 2002.
His sale of his stake MMX Mineracoa de Metalicos to Anglo American earned a cash and paper gain of more than $1 billion.
Ventana has also attracted the interest and substantial investment from highly respected Vancouver mining über entrepreneur Ross Beaty.
Beaty's Lumina Capital used to have the controlling interest in Ventana, a total of 16.9%. Although Mineweb has contacted Beaty regarding Batista's assumption of controlling interest in Ventana, Beaty did not respond by our deadline early Thursday morning.