Conclusions (All IMHO)
1) Chavez is in deeper trouble.
2) Military rule and marshal law is a possibility.
3) I was hoping for a resolution before ICSID, but not sure now.
4) Gold mining is the only sector to revive the economy.
5) Russia is in trouble and IMHO is eliminated from the game.
6) China is a major player now.
7) VZ can't mine the gold alone
8) KRY is still the best option for VZ

Hugo just doesn’t care about mining.

If he did, he would have seized on the sudden drop in oil revenues to diversify big time into mining. He hasn’t.

If he did, he wouldn’t be fiddling with Cargill and Empresa Polar and Coca Cola and downtown shopping centers and airports and seaports while his economy crashes and burns.

If he did, there would be a flurry of environmental permits issued. Why do we keep punishing ourselves with the notion that Hugo might have it in for Crystallex when nobody has received an all inclusive environmental permit in years?

If he did, before allowing those permits, he might want a new mining law in place to assure the orderly development of the mining sector much like what happened in Ecuador. Do you really think the mining law revamp would be languishing in the rubber stamp NA if Hugo wished to pursue that issue?

For whatever reason which none of us can rationalize the mining sector is just not a priority with Hugo. If the sudden drop in oil revenues hasn’t caused him to rethink his position by now, what makes us think that something will radically change within the next two or so months. Certainly not the threat of arbitration. A tinhorn bully like Hugo can never allow himself to be seen as intimidated.

So, what does that mean for us. Like I mentioned in a previous post, commensurate with the announcement of our intention to proceed with the arbitration option, a Hugo surrogate will express sorrow that Crystallex is not in a position to wait for the eventual startup of the mining sector, thank us for all our good works, and offer to buy out our contract.

The buyout offer will be nowhere near fair value but will certainly be more than where we are stuck at today. So each of us has to make the decision. Do we want to accept the bone that will be handed us or should we wait around for the uncertainty of a greater reward?

The one thing I am certain is by May 28 we will get a buyout offer from somebody. Be ready.