Latest back and forth with RM, nothing particularly profound, but he seems keen on Sanz: So Richard, Have you guys by-and-large given up on Ortega as the conduit for issuance of the permit? In the Bloomberg article a few weeks back, comments attributed to GT essentially throw her under a bus. I know you have repeatedly said that the hold-up is due to a back log of work, but that is simply not believable in light of both GT's comments and the apparent need for only a simple signature from Ortega. I will remind you that a corporate officer does not have the legal latitude to foster rumors that they do not believe to be true or that they believe to be untrue. Emphasis now seems to have shifted to Sanz to get the permit issued through Chavez, a reasonable course in my opinion. But, if he ends up not cooperating at some stage, what are your alternatives? Will Kry keep open a legal/judicial recourse (as per Exxon)? I believe and appreciate you guys are making your best good faith effort. That said, management cannot be defined as "good" if it cannot execute within the circumstances and constraints that they have accepted. Thanks, RM-- At the end of the day I'd expect the Permit to be issued by the Minister of MinAmb. We are working broardly to get the permit issued ....no particular emphasis or expectation on any one agency or person. That said, Minister Sanz does appear interested in the region and the Bolivar State projects and he is also the President of the CVG that holds the project on behalf of Venezuela. We expect the permit to be issed and believe it's a matter of time. If we see other pending projects (in Bolivar State) getting their green light for construction we'll review our position. We do not believe this is a problem specific or exclusive to Crystallex and Las Cristinas. Regards, Richard marshall