One story however, stands out in both size and strangeness. From a spot that's seen a lot of unusual developments in the resource sector lately.

Venezuela

Late in February, I described how the Venezuelan government had created a new, military company for oil and mining ventures.

And late last week, the country's central bank announced a major new initiative to revolutionize the country's gold mining industry.

That involves a long-standing player in Venezuela's gold sector: Spokane, Washington-based Gold Reserve Inc. A company that worked in the country from 1992 to 2009, proving up the 10 million-ounce Brisas gold project.

The Venezuelan government revoked Gold Reserve's production permits for Brisas in 2008. Causing the company to file an arbitration claim — which was upheld by the World Bank in 2014, with an order for Venezuela to pay $740 million in damages to Gold Reserve.