I'd like to do a little thinking out loud about this latest Venezuela press release regarding VZ taking over the gold concessions to make up for the oil revenues they have lost, etc. They sound broke like many countries now.

That news release yesterday, on the surface, seems to be more saber rattling perhaps to psychologically force GRZ stockholders to accept the 3 for 1 stock offer by Rusoro. It could also be another move to force KRY's price down further, right before a possible Rusoro bid with a similar stock exchange offer to Crystallex shareholders.

They again say "concessions" would be taken over at the Las Cristinas site and we know that's baloney because we don't have a concession, we have a MOA. So, that in itself makes the press release seem not credible, but as I said more saber rattling.

Regarding a possible (similar) stock exchange offer for Crystallex, certainly a strong possibility, my gut reaction is that's so unfair because it's based on our driven down stock price. On the other hand the reality is, if Venezuela just offered a cash settlement to buy back our mining contract, what good is that? They can't even afford to pay the millions/billions (?) they now owe the confiscated oil concessions from the recent past. Arbitration? Lawsuits? I don't feel too good about those options, given the uncertainty and length of time to settle.

If Rusoro became the main Venezuela partner and we say own many shares of their company....well?.....would VZ play games with Rusoro? Probably not likely.

Having said all the above, I would of course much prefer Crystallex to be the company of choice to mine the gold. But, I am a realist. And, the above is just sharing food for thought in case we have no chance to be retained.