Failure to resolve the Las Cristinas issue would have a tremendously negative impact on the future of all foreign investments in Venezuela!

While Crystallex International Corporation (KRY) executives in Toronto (Canada) are maintaining a 'diplomatic silence' biding their time for clarifications from central government cources in Caracas, officials at the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) have been locked in discussions with the Ministry of the Environment (MinAmb) and the Ministry for Basic Industries & Mining (Mibam) in an attempt to resolve a crisi developed in last week's controversial news that an Environment Ministry director had thrown a bucket of ice over Canadian miner, Crystallex International's plans to develop the Las Cristinas gold mine project under a 40-year operating contract with the CVG.

National Assembly (AN) deputy Ricardo Gutierrez, former president and key member of the Venezuelan government's parliamentary Economic Development Commission, has also been informed of the MinAmb director's about-face on the issuance of the crucual Environmental Impact Study (EIS) which had been seen as the final bureaucratic key to commencement at the 16+ million ounce gold mine at Sifontes in southeastern Bolivar State.

The project as been seen as one of the key economic "motors" to enhance President Chavez Frias' Bolivarian Revolution and had been eagerly awaited by thousands of under-employed and under-privileged workers in the region which has hitherto been plagued by illegal miners and 'garimpieros' scratching a subsistence with little or no regard for the environment. The Las Cristinas project had been seen as a strong effort on the part of the regional government to deal with multiple issues in a scenario which has seen Venezuela's gold resources virtually abandoned over the last half century.

Reports reaching VHeadline today say that last week's letter to the CVG from a director at the Venezuelan Ministry of Environment (MinAmb) surprisingly focuses on issues relating to the small miners and mining in the Imataca Forest Reserve notwithstanding the fact that both Crystallex and the CVG have repeatedly been advised that they remain in good standing with a lost of government bodies and the the final permit would be forthcoming.

Nevertheless, the MinAmb director's latest claim is that mining causes considerable damage to the environment and is therefore deemed to be illegal in the Imataca Reserve despite the fact that all such issues were previously addressed and that regulatory Bonds had been posted and applicable taxes paid.

The Mayor of Sifontes municipality, directly affecetd by last week's surprise news, and State Governor Francisco Rangel Gomez are said to be working feverishly to defuse the situation which, if not resolved without further delay, could have a tremendously negative impact on the future of all foreign investments in Venezuela.