town, Bolívar estado (state), eastern Venezuela, on the right bank of the Yuruari River, about 135 miles (272 km) east-southeast of Ciudad Bolívar in the Venezuelan Guiana Highlands. The town has been a gold-mining centre since 1853, following the discovery of the metal in that year, and by 1885 had become the world's leading producer. The first gold rush was over by 1899, and the mines were for long thought to be exhausted, but a combination of new technology and high gold prices in the 1970s led to the redevelopment of the mines by Minerven, a Venezuelan national mining corporation. Pop. (2001) 17,410.