From this morning ... I would say kind of supplemental to Jets conversation. ------ Richard, About a month ago I inquired into the status of a visit to LC by Mibam Minister Sanz. Can you tell me if this has occurred yet? RM -- We first met with Minister Sanz in February and invited him to visit Las Cristinas - it's one thing to see a slide presentation and pictures and another to physically see it. Minister Sanz has a pressing schedule and said based on his travel plans was interested in a site visit - we do not believe a visit is required to gain forward momentum for the pending MinAmb permit issuance, but continue to invite officials to the site in an effort to speed up or break the log jam. It does appear that the region, small miner issues and mining in general is gaining attention and that should be good. regards, Richard Marshall Kry has made a point of emphasizing that the LC project has the strong support of the local community and many in the NA. Let me ask you the following. Aside from possibly Hugo Chavez, are you aware of anyone of significance in the Executive Branch that is against approval of the project? The Bloomberg article stated that Ortega was against foreigners extracting Ven resources, though it wasn't clear if GT actually said that or if that was the reporters opinion. Someone quoted you as saying that Ortega was a relatively low key figure that just does her job (nothing necessarily wrong with that). So what is holding this up? It is NOT do to paper work. How about it, what's the story? RM -- It appears the entire region (SE Bolivar State) across many industries has experience delays when dealing at the national level. To date we have not been advised of any opposition (at any level) to the project. Minister Ortega was quoted over a year ago that mining projects were not a top priority to her and her department and that all mining projects required a little more scrutiny (and we believe she was referencing the projects that do not post an EIS for approval etc). The MinAmb (her department) has approved the las Cristinas EIS and accpeted the Bond and Taxes that they requested. We hope that the growing interest in the Region may give projects a boost to move through the national level bureaucracies in a more timely manner. Regards, Richard Marshall Well, at this point I think one can only conclude that this is being held up by Chavez himself ... perhaps the political issue that Mr. Thompson was referring to last August? Speculation has been that we have to wait for Sanz to finish his review of the mining sector, then he tells Chavez what to do, then Chavez saves the Venezuela and is a big hero. Any idea how long Sanz will be in his overall review? He seems to be moving along pretty quickly. RM -- As the Steel and other heavey Industry issues appear to be back on track Minister Sanz is suggesting that Mining should be next .... we certainly hope so. There is no way to predict the timing. Regards, R