Crystallex International Corp., a Canadian gold producer, has filed for arbitration against Venezuela to seek as much as $3.8 billion in damages after the South American country revoked its gold mining licence.

The Toronto-based mining company filed a request with the Additional Facility of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes to settle the dispute that bars it from operating the Las Cristinas gold mine, Crystallex said.

"Crystallex seeks the restitution by Venezuela of Crystallex's investments," the company said in a statement.

Crystallex shares plunged as much as 43 per cent on Feb. 7 when it said it received a letter from state-run Corp. Venezolana de Guayana on Feb. 3 saying its contract had been "unilaterally terminated." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez faces 15 arbitration cases after nationalizing assets of foreign firms including ExxonMobil Corp., Conoco-Phillips and Cemex SAB.

Las Cristinas is estimated to have gold reserves of about 27 million ounces.