Economic Development Commission proposes Las Cristinas gold project forum
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, May 05, 2003 By: David Coleman
Crystallex International (KRY) president & CEO Marc J Oppenheimer has told a National Assembly (AN) Commission on Economic Development that his company is making significant progress on a last-September awarded contract with the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) as the exclusive mine operator to one of South America's richest gold reserves.
Marc Oppenheimer says that Crystallex operations at the Las Cristinas deposit will have a very positive impact on regional economics, adding that he feels proud that his company was selected to develop this important Venezuelan project which should have been operative at least 12 years ago ... "Crystallex International has always has believed in Venezuela, since we have developed different projects in good times and in bad ... we have always maintained our faith in a positive outcome for Venezuela.".
On the basis of technical and feasibility studies, Oppenheimer says he anticipates operations at Las Cristinas to continue for several decades. Some weeks back, international finance representatives, including top executives of Germany's Deutsche Bank GMBH, had visited Venezuela for an on-site inspection and evaluation of his company's progress and they had all left with very favorable impressions of both Venezuela and Las Cristinas with its associated operations.
Under the terms of the CVG/KRY contract, the Vancouver-based mining corporation has already paid US$15 million for the use of previous mine studies leading to a fresh appraisal of reserves at Las Cristinas which have been duly completed. The contract establishes the payment to the CVG of a royalty of between 1% and 3% of the commercial value of extracted gold and operative taxes according to Venezuela's new Mining Law. Additionally, Crystallex de Venezuela has undertaken to hire international gold experts and to initiate a regional training system with special emphasis on neighboring developments including health, welfare, schools, roads, water treatment plants and other urban infrastructure with technical support to organized small-scale mining operations in southeastern Bolivar State.
AN vice president Ricardo Gutierrez and deputies Rodolfo Gutierrez, Arnoldo Marquez, Luis Frank Beltran, Manuel Carmona with other members of the commission heard local Crystallex de Venezuela C.A. president Luis Felipe Cottin detail the development as being responsible for all investments and work necessary to reactivate the Las Cristinas mine after more than a decade during which it has lain idle. Cottin said his company will be responsible for designing the mine, constructing necessary plant and exploiting its gold reserves for the duration of the operating contract which ... with extensions ... could extend 40 years.
Bolivar State deputy Luis Frank Beltran said that Crystallex' progress with Las Cristinas will generate greater confidence in Venezuela's gold mining sector and has urged the President of the Republic to use it as a shining example for foreign investments in Venezuela ... committee vice president Ricardo Gutierrez adding that the project is of great importance for the eastern region of Venezuela, Bolivar State in particular ... "Crystallex has kept an open dialogue with CVG president, Major General (ret.) Francisco Rangel Gomez to ensure an exact interpretation of project developments and their relationship with regional development in the Guayana region."
AN Permanent Commission of Economic Development president Victor Cedeno said "we must emphasize that our government has acted within the legal framework necessary to protect and conserve the interests of our Nation ... for that reason, we are proposing the creation with Crystallex of a special forum in Puerto Ordaz ... the general public and all those who take an active part in the life of the CVG and Bolivar State will be able to familiarize themselves with all aspects of the Las Cristinas project and what has already been accomplished.