Venezuela will take over and nationalize Las Cristinas, the biggest gold mine in the country owned by Canada's Crystallex, Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said on Wednesday.

The move is part of leftist President Hugo Chavez's socialist agenda that calls for nationalizing Venezuela's natural resources. Over the past year, Chavez has taken over the electricity, oil, steelmaking, cement and telephone enterprises.

"This mine will be seized and managed by a state administration," Sanz said in a statement.

The Venezuelan government move comes ahead of elections for governors and mayors on 23 November in which Chavez faces tough competition.

Las Cristinas mine, located in southeastern Bolivar state, is estimated to hold 16.9 million ounces of gold, in proven and potential reserves of the precious metal, according to Crystallex data.

Since the start of the year, Venezuela has been withholding environmental permits that allow private companies to extract gold, in lieu of a law that will establish joint ventures with foreign companies with majority stakes by the Venezuelan state.

Crystallex, whose main asset is Las Cristinas, said in a statement on its website that it "has not been notified of any changes ... regarding the Las Cristinas Project or the Mine Operating Contract."

Its shares fell 25.5 percent on Wednesday on Toronto's stock exchange.

Venezuela's gold production would now rise from 4.2 to 8.2 tons annually from 2009, according to Sanz.

"This is a jump of more than 100 percent of production in only three months as a consequence of the rise in production capacity of plants that are now owned by the state," Sanz said.

The Venezuelan government would also seek to take over other sites to increase its production of minerals such as gold, diamonds, bauxite and uranium, the statement said.