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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold and Silver Mining Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (423)	10/2/2000 9:39:44 AM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4051

Story of the Las Cristinas law suit simplified (Situation-at-a-glance by Ven Economina, Caracas) "CRYSTALLEX TAKES IT ON THE CHIN: The Supreme Court refused to hear Crystallex's claim that it is the real owner of two of the concessions that comprise the potentially fabulous Las Cristinas gold reserve being developed by Minca, a Placer Dome-CVG 70%-30% joint venture. Crystallex's claim is based on its ownership of a company called Inversora Mael which acquired the concessions from a Mr. Ramon Torres who, in turn, has received the concessions in 1986, from a Mrs. Cot Whitney Culver de Lemon, in payment of a Bs 150,000 debt ($6,369 back then). Mrs. de Lemon was the widow of the co-pilot who in 1935 "discovered" the famous Angel Falls, south of Las Cristinas. The falls are the world's highest, 980 metres form the top of a vertical landform called a tepui, and were named for Jimmy Angel, a American who was piloting the plane that made the "discovery". Venezuelan officials gave Whitney de Lemon rights to Las Cristinas in 1964 as a gift. As it turns out, the original sale document was signed by Mr. Jesus Angel Adrian, who was acting as attorney -in-fact for Mrs. Lemon. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Lemon sued to have the transaction annulled, claiming that she had not authorized the sale and that the power-of-attorney had been revoked prior the transaction date. Mrs. Lemon's suit was successful. The Courts ruled the transaction null and void and confirmed Mrs. Lemon as the rightful owner of the concessions in 1991. That was a firm decision (i.e. Mael had appealed, but later withdrew the appeal). And that's where it would have ended, except that, at that point, Mrs. Lemon had died, Having no one to deliver the final sentence to, the Court simply filed it away, Which is where it sat until a few weeks age, when lawyers from Baker & McKenzie (counsel for Placer Dome) executed the legal equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, locating the file which, in effect, assigns title to Mrs. Lemon's Estate, except that Mrs. Lemon left no heirs. Per Venezuelan law , the State inherits the concessions. The Supreme Court did not rule on this underlying issue, but rather noted that the Statute of Limitations had run out. Even so, Mael and therefore Crystallex - would appear to be left out in the cold. COUNTER-SUIT: There might be more to the Crystallex saga, after all. Firstly, the Supreme Court is apparently going to review Crystallex's claims to the copper rights. Also, CVG says it will sue for damages (e.g. the delays in getting the Las Cristinas operation underway) and for fraud (accepting compensation for a concession it didn't own). Stay tuned." Update: crystallex.com (my comments): KM 88 has always been considered economic on a cash cost basis with Las Cristinas estimated at 155 by PDG. The question is capital costs variously estimated at 400-550 million. The KRY-GLDR-PDG combination helps solve that as KRY already has an existing mill at Albino. They may have the copper rights as well, and certainly a legal (and now political claim to the gold). The solution to this (economically, legally and politically) is to combine the KM 88 concessions. Indeed a PDG purchase of KRY (after KRY takes out GLDR), would seem to be a likely "settlement" of the legal battle.