Aus einer kanadischen Zeitung:
Venezuela kills Canadians' hunt for gold
The words "unilaterally terminated" appear to be the last straw for many of Crystallex International Corp.'s long-suffering shareholders.
Shares of the Toronto-based company plunged roughly 40 per cent Monday after it received a letter from the Venezuelan government saying its contract to mine the legendary Las Cristinas gold deposit has been "unilaterally terminated."
The letter cited lack of progress at the site as well as "reasons of opportunity and convenience."
The lack of progress can be directly attributed to Hugo Chavez's government.
In mid-2008, it blocked permits for Crystallex and Gold Reserve Inc. They want to develop the Las Cristinas and Brisas projects, which sit side-by-side in Venezuela's Kilometre 88 district.
With no permit in sight, Crystallex came close to running out of cash last year.
It rescued itself by striking a joint venture with a state-owned Chinese engineering company to develop Las Cristinas.
That gave investors renewed confidence in the project, and Crystallex completed a $35-million financing a few days later.
But this latest announcement suggests that China's involvement has not changed Venezuela's views on Crystallex. It simply does not want the company to develop this project.
What the government does want is an open question. It has a serious environmental mess around Las Cristinas, and it needs a mining company to go in and clean it up while finally extracting all the gold. Las Cristinas has nearly 17 million ounces of reserves.
Some investors have speculated that the government wants Russian-Canadian miner Rusoro Mining Ltd. to develop the project. The Vancouver-based company, which is backed by Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra and Russia's powerful Agapov family, has emerged as Venezuela's preferred partner for gold mining.
On Monday, Rusoro executives told news agencies they were eager to mine Las Cristinas if that is the wish of the government.
Rusoro tried to get its foot in the door in the Kilometre 88 district in late 2008, when it launched a hostile-takeover bid for Gold Reserve.
That offer fell apart after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice intervened. The court ruled that Rusoro had improper access to Gold Reserve's confidential information because its adviser on the bid, Endeavour Financial, worked with both companies.
Endeavour Financial's exclusive adviser is Giustra, who is also closely affiliated with Rusoro.
Crystallex said it still may pursue international arbitration against the Venezuelan government. It did not comment beyond Monday's brief statement
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