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Gold/Mining/Energy : Crystallex (KRY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Soileau who wrote (10098)	9/28/1999 10:07:00 AM
From: William Peavey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

And Crystallex, too, is responding. Probably because despite all Charred's bitter attacks, the company actually does mine gold. . at a profit! I just saw it at US$1.00

To: John Soileau who wrote (10098)	9/28/1999 4:47:00 PM
From: tanoose	Respond to of 10836

Hello John; The shorts were lining up at the store a few weeks ago??.......only to find out that the cupboard was bare?? Now for some on topic news?? TuesdaySeptember 28, 1999 Crystallex probes Las Cristinas decision Looks for 'irregularities' Keith Damsell Financial Post Vowing yesterday not to give up its fight for a Venezuelan gold discovery, Crystallex International Corp. is investigating the legal decision last year that awarded the Las Cristinas project to mining giant Placer Dome Inc. The internal investigation is "looking into irregularities and inconsistencies" that led to the June 1998 decision by the Venezuelan Supreme Court that rejected the Vancouver junior's claim it was entitled to the 11.7-million-ounce gold deposit, said Marc Oppenheimer, Crystallex president and chief executive. MKD International Inc., a Toronto firm operated by three former police detectives, is spearheading the investigation. The firm has been retained by Crystallex to probe "the allegation or the suggestion that there was some form of inappropriate action that may have taken place in the resulting recent decision that came out of the Supreme Court in Venezuela," said Thomas Klatt, an MKD principal. "It doesn't make any difference to us what they're investigating. A decision was made and it still stands," said Hugh Leggatt, spokesman for Vancouver-based Placer Dome. "It was all done through the law courts in the normal way. We don't see anything irregular or untoward about what was done," he said. "These guys are basically trying to hang on to a controversy they caused by bringing the case in the first place in order to justify an action that the court proved was totally without foundation." Citing poor gold prices, Placer Dome put the $575-million (US) development of Las Cristinas on hold in July. The company has invested about $70-million (US) on the project, expected to produce about 530,000 ounces of gold a year. Las Cristinas is a 70/30 joint venture between Placer Dome and Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), a state-owned resource company. For the last two months, Crystallex investigators have researched the events surrounding the decision by Cecilia Sosa Gomez, Venezuela's chief justice. In addition to Canada, detectives have visited the United States, Venezuela and "certain jurisdictions in the Caribbean," Mr. Oppenheimer said in an interview from Caracas. "This is ongoing and very active," he said. Mr. Oppenheimer refused to discuss details of the investigation but added "the results to date have been encouraging and ... warrant continued involvement." Venezuela's Ministry of Energy and Mines was unaware of the investigation when contacted by the Financial Post. Senior government officials, however, have been contacted and are co-operating with the investigation, Mr. Oppenheimer said. In August, three Crystallex directors met with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president. President Chavez, a left-leaning populist who led a failed coup attempt in 1992, was elected in a landslide victory last December. The former paratrooper has pledged to overhaul public institutions riddled with corruption and inefficiency. Controversial plans to revamp the country's judicial system led to the resignation last month of Chief Justice Gomez. Ms. Gomez claimed the governing Constitutional Assembly's takeover of the courts is illegal. The Crystallex investigation is the latest twist in the long battle for control of the Las Cristinas property in southeastern Venezuela. In March, 1997, Crystallex agreed to pay $30-million (US) to acquire Inversora Mael CA, a Venezuelan company challenging Placer Dome's rights to key areas of Las Cristinas known as concessions four and six. Hopes of a victory pushed Crystallex shares to a record $11.60 in March last year. Short-sellers and attacks from a Venezuelan congressman drove the stock down to the $5 range. After the final and unappealable court ruling, the stock collapsed and has traded in the $1 range for much of the past year. Three class action suits were filed in New York district court against Crystallex. Following a Sept. 13 hearing, the court has reserved judgment on certifying the class action suit. "They've got themselves in class actions and that's another reason why they want to keep it on the front burner," said Mr. Leggatt. "It's all over. Our mining rights have been confirmed by the courts." Crystallex is undaunted and, in addition to the investigation, is attacking on two legal fronts. First, it is asking the court to end the partnership between Placer Dome and CVG. Second, Crystallex is joining as a third party in litigation in which the attorney general of Venezuela is challenging the 1991 presidential decree from which CVG derived its authority to grant mining contracts. With regards,Frank