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

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (7087)	3/18/1998 10:31:00 PM
From: OrionX	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

**** REUTERS ARTICLE: MIAMI, March 18 (Reuters) - Top executives of Vancouver-based Crystallex International Corp (AMEX:KRY - news; KRY.TO - news) on Wednesday dismissed a Venezuelan congressman's assertion that their claim on a disputed mine in the South American country was false. They said documents in Venezuela's Official Gazette supported its ownership and the decision lay with the country's Supreme Court. ''Congressman Acosta did exactly the same thing as he did a year ago,'' Crystallex chairman Robert Fung told Reuters. ''Let's see what the court decides.'' ''We think Congressman Acosta has erred in his opinion of what the court will do,'' added director Robert Nihon. Venezuelan politician Rafael Rodriguez Acosta, who is president of the Congressional Subcommission on Mining, told a news conference in Miami earlier on Wednesday that Crystallex's claims to the disputed Las Cristinas gold mine deep in the Venezuelan jungle were false. Both Crystallex and Toronto-based Placer Dome Inc (NYSE:PDG - news; PDG.TO - news) have claimed title to the mine, which some analysts say could be one of Latin America's richest. Last year, Crystallex filed an appeal of Placer's rights in the Venezuela Supreme Court. Trading in Crystallex on the Toronto Stock Exchange was halted on Wednesday morning, after the share price tumbled 2.65 to 4.50 a share in heavy dealing on news of Acosta's comments. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, chairman of the Energy and Mining Committee, later told Reuters that Acosta's remarks were his own opinion, not those of the government, and would not bear on the independent Supreme Court. Fung said Crystallex's claim to the mine was evident in a land title in the name of its subsidiary Inversora Mael which was published in Venezuela's Gazeta Oficial in May 1996. ''The government of Venezuela has recognised the title. The case is to get back assets erroneously given away. We want it back,'' he said. He also defended the company's integrity in the face of Acosta's comments, saying the board included a number of distinguished Canadians and other figures, including Venezuela's former ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, Enrique Tejera Paris. ''You are not dealing with a board that is going to be dealing with fraud,'' Fung said. ''Every document we put out is scrutinised by our Canadian legal counsel and our Venezuelan legal counsel.'' Crystallex president Mark Oppenheimer also pointed to the company's long track-record in Venezuela. ''We've been in Venezuela for years. We're the largest employer in that part of the country. We continue to expand our activities there. No matter what the court decides we are committed to the country in the long run,'' he said.

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (7087)	3/18/1998 10:38:00 PM
From: charred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

Bill: A large part of the resource is in the hard rock. They aren't going to leach it. Don't you think that Placer would have thought of all this.

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (7087)	3/18/1998 10:45:00 PM
From: RMF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

Bill, Is it possible that you're on the other side of the IPM equation here?

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (7087)	3/18/1998 10:49:00 PM
From: Greg Ford	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10836

Bill, the deposit is a low grade copper / gold deposit. Based on their annual report PDG has planned a $600 million mine on the LC site. The mine is expected to yield 450,000 ounces of gold a year at a cash cost of around $200. The mine life is expected to be 15 to 20 years depending on exploration success. They have completed a feasibility study. KRY has not. They have the government agency, CVG as their partner. They have passed all the environmental hurdles. They are ready TODAY to create 3,000 jobs. KRY, if they were successful, any that is a big if, would need to complete a feasibility study, which would involve drilling out the deposit. They would need to spend at least 2 years to prove up the deposit for purposes of building a mine as well as generating a bankable feasibility study. Now PDG could sell them the information, however how likely is this? KRY does not have the experience to build, run or finance a mine of this size. They are having tremendous problems with Albino. How much gold did Albino produce in 1997 and what were Albino's recent cash and total production costs? In a low gold price environment such as today, it is debatable whether any major would build LC. Therefore I don't know how a junior would be able to do it. As for selling the deposit or KRY being taken out by a major, how likely is this. A major who pays, let's pick a number, $300 million, for LC would need to finance the feasability study and the mine construction. That's one billion dollars. At $300 gold it is not going to happen. If Venezuela wants a mine at LC and the resulting jobs that go with construction and operation of a "highly automated mine" they are going to dance with PDG, not crawl with KRY. Greg