I know that I have the reputation for being a gloom and doomer on this board and I must say that I intentionally lay it on a little thick at times just for sport. However, I do really believe that our economy is running on borrowed time and it is this belief, along with the associated belief that, when this happens gold will hit some of the lofty levels quoted by the Jim Sinclairs of this world that I became a gold investor. I don't want or hope this will happen. I just think it is the most likely scenario and decided to invest accordingly.

Having said all of that...many of us are getting impatient at the lack of any public word from management. Let's take a moment to reflect. "What if" not only KRY management but the Russian central planners (and by extension...dumb-ass Hugo) know that gold is going to EXPLODE upward in the near future....and by explode I don't mean rise like we've seen it rise over the last 7 years. What I mean is that you wake up one day and all of the clueless disinformation mongers on financial TV along with your co-workers and the guy behind the counter at 7-11 are all in a dither about the news of the sudden plunge in the dollar and meteoric overnight rise in gold. I firmly believe that the threat of this event...or presuming no timely resolution to our situation...the occurance of this event will ultimately be the catalyst that leads to a resolution of our standoff in Venezuela. If Fung believes gold will be at $3,000.00\ounce within 5 years and he is able to solicit financing from others of like mind, then he will have no problem taking this thru arbitration if we are not treated with a minimum amount of respect in negotiations. In a similar vein, if the Russian central planners (or the Chinese for that matter) believe that gold will be at $3,000.00\ounce within 5 years, and they are able to eliminate the Hugo theft factor from the equation (which, apparantly the Russians have done with their recently announced agreement with Venezuela), then they understand how highly undervalued KRY is at the moment...and will be highly motivated to reach a settlement....knowing that KRY is not bluffing when they say they will opt for arbitration rather than accept a stink bid offer. If gold rises to $3,000.00\ounce while waiting for the arbitration process to unfold....then it is not unreasonable to think that previously uninterested majors might decide to re-think Venezuelan risk....especially if Hugo is swirling down to the bottom of the political toilet bowl. The Russians know this.

There is no doubt that there are investors with deep pockets that believe in gold as an investment. Jim Rogers and that Paulson hedge fund guy that recently invested heavily in GLD (and that also, coincidently, made a killing by shorting the real estate market while the party was in full swing) come to mind. Fung is reported to be connected and a good businessman. Put those two statements together and you have our financing issue resolved...which corroborates Fung's public statements. The Chinese are getting rid of dollars and buying up hard assets as quickly as possible. They've been accumulating gold for years. Potential Chinese interest in Las Cristinas should certainly be put into the "motivational" category as it bears on incentivizing good will negotiations by the Russians with KRY management.

According to Jim Sinclair...the Chinese, as the primary creditor to the bankrupt U.S., will be making a decision within the next couple of months regarding the progress of the U.S. in changing the "burn the dollar" quantitative easing policy that has been adopted to inflate U.S. debt away. This decision could well be the spark that ignites gold.

My DD is directed at the economy and the gold market. I gave up long ago trying to interpret anything that comes out of or is written about Venezuela and our situation there. I need only one fact when it comes to KRY DD...and that is that we apparently, according to some sharp legal types on this board, have a pretty damn good contract that we have complied with and that we have recourse to international arbitration. In my mind...at this point...it all boils down to the price of gold. I, for one, am watching the news closely...waiting for the day I wake up and the guy behind the counter at the 7-11 is all in a dither. Hey! Did you hear the news?