since you brought it up...in your opinion, what will we see first, an announced settlement or a reasonable financing plan?

Well, if I had to choose, I would say a very warm place will freeze over first.

But, seriously, I am always the optimist and logic insists that the Chinese want to mine the gold, so I have to go with settlement. Not that logic and Venezuela are really appropriate in the same paragraph, or maybe in the same page, or book, or library.

If a settlement does not happen, then I would expect incremental financing through the duration of the arbitration. It's easier to get smaller amounts to keep going as things progress, and there is no real incentive to get a total financing package in place for either Crystallex (other than to ease our pain) or the financier. The longer the provider of financing waits, the more information and certainty to outcome that they get, and thus the better the terms we get.

The 800 pound gorilla is obviously the notes due in December, but that can be addressed several ways, and I really don't think the noteholders (who unlike Hugo, are rational) would want to potentially jeopardize a huge arbitration award by forcing bankruptcy. I'm sure Bob could reach some sort of accommodation.