While it's always possible Citic might buy KRY's LC data, or even buy out KRY completely, thus ending this nightmare, when has doing something illegal ever stopped Chavez or the Chinese for that matter.

If history is any predictor this new announcement with Citic is probably more of the same from Chavez: Tell the people that Ven has a new partner (Placer Dome/KRY/Rusoro/Citic etc) to develop Las Cristinas, force that partner to build some infrastructure and/or pay a bond and taxes..........and then do nothing.

It would be nice if this tragic soap opera ended quickly, in our favor somehow, but I doubt it. That just doesn't seem to be our luck. Therefore I would expect this thing to drag out a lot longer with the next step, DIP financing, being announced the second or third week of March.

BTW: as along as we're looking back here's one of my favorites from EZ a couple of years ago:

Cividale, would you forget about comparing our current position with what happened in the olden days. We're in a totally different position now with CRRC. The learning from past mistakes and history is old and tired. This is the dawning of the age of Crystallex (or was that Aquarius) whatever...It's a completely new situation, in a completely new economic environment, where there isn't anymore room for the irresponsible political decisons of the past. Not if they want to survive, at least. Chavez and Venezuela really don't have much in the way of "Other Choices"....agreed!!!

Cividale