I asked Richard Marshall about some cost and timeline issues. I'm sure he's being hit with lots of inquires a day but he was kind enough to offer up a quick reply:
The Company intends to sell the milling and miscellaneous equipment held in storage to improve its working capital position and at the same time it is reducing overhead. I believe the value of the equipment is in the order of $30-$40 million and could be useful for other large tonnage milling operations either in operation, construction or ready for development.
The total costs for ICSID claims have been estimated by others at $5-$8 million dollars from prep to finish. Crystallex has been working with Freshfields since 2008 and is advanced in the process and already incurred some of the prep costs in 2008, 2009 and 2010. More recent case filings appear to be working through the ICSID process in a more timely manner than older cases. Probably based on new procedures and rules implemented by ICSID in the last couple of years, implemented to speed up the process. I note in some cases the ICSID panels have been situated within a matter of a couple of months from the registration of the case. One of the other factors that has a direct influence on the pace of the procedure is the timing of the full memorial filing. Some companies in the process have taken more than a year or two to prepare and file their memorial while others have filed it within weeks of the panel being constituted.
The Company is working simultaneously on the panel selection and memorial document in an effort to keep the case on a shorter time horizon.
The notes due at the end of the year. The Company is exploring options to address settlement/repayment. Upon any commitments the company will update shareholders, but I would not expect any news on that front in the very near term as the notes are current and not due until the end of December.
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Cividale