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

To: E. Charters who wrote (8701)	5/23/1998 1:52:00 PM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Respond to of 10836

Court fight has cost Crystallex $15.4M By PETER KENNEDY Vancouver Bureau The Financial Post Crystallex International Corp. says it has cost $15.4 million so far to maintain its interest in a title dispute with Placer Dome Inc. over the huge Las Cristinas gold find in Venezuela. Financial statements released Friday also contain details of Crystallex's complex connection to the dispute, currently before the Supreme Court of Venezuela.Based in Vancouver, Crystallex got involved in the lawsuit in the past year by acquiring an interest in Inversora Mael CA, a Venezuelan company claiming rights to key areas of Las Cristinas known as concessions four and six. In its recent financial statements, Crystallex said the costs relating to the Mael acquisition have been capitalized as part of the cost of the acquisition of the mineral property. "The total cost incurred to Dec. 31, 1997,was $15.4 million,''it said. If the lawsuit does not succeed,that amount,plus any subsequent costs, will be expensed to operations. Meanwhile, Crystallex also says the outstanding Mael shares are the sole asset of a company known as Private Co., which is in turn controlled by certain Crystallex directors it did not name. Crystallex said it has secured an "exclusive call right'' to acquire all the shares of Private Co. The option can be exercised "at any time,'' by matching Private Co.'s commitment to pay out US$30 million in staged payments, including US$10 million in cash. It said the call right is irrevocable and unconditional, unless anyone acquires a 20% stake in Crystallex without the prior consent of the directors. Crystallex is waiting for the Venezuelan Supreme Court to decide whether or not it will be allowed to appeal a ruling that was announced last July. At the time,the court refused to allow Crystallex to challenge a ruling under which Placer's gold mining rights had been upheld.Eugenio Hernandez-Breton, the Venezuela lawyer acting for Vancouver-based Placer, said he has "no idea'' when the court will make its decision. "The court is not subject to any deadline. But we expect it will be some time this year.'' On Friday, Crystallex shares (KRY/TSE) closed unchanged at $6.