Crystallex unveiled its second phase expansion that will double the output from 10.2 million ounce Las Cristinas project in Venezuela to 500,000 ounces. The base case of 20,000 tonnes per day would produce 311,000 ounces at a cash cost of $144 per ounce in 2006. Detailed engineering and environmental work is being carried out by SNC Lavelin Engineering & Constructors. The revised 40,000 tpd model lowers cash cost to $190 per ounce and raises the capital cost to $266 million. Crystallex is currently drilling an 18 infill hole program, which could add about 2 million ounces to its proven and probable reserves as it drills more closely spaced holes in the proposed pit. Having been granted the "land" permit, Crystallex expects to receive the final permit before the end of this year and financing will be in place by the same time. Consequently we expect the company to break ground by the end of this year, which would attract investor interest. We continue to recommend this undervalued producer. Buy.

hxxp://www.safehaven.com/article-1870.htm  

theuptrend.com: TheUpTrend.com Initiates Technical Coverage of Crystallex International Corp
12:52 p.m. 11/04/2004

hxxp://activequote.fidelity.com/rtrnews/research_frameset.phtml?product=M2C/M2C&provider=CBSMW&page=stocks_main.phtml%3Fin_page=news.phtml%26in_ticker=KRY.TO%26news_story%3DNEWS.CBSMW.00000000.825720659  

Press Release Source: Crystallex International Corporation

Crystallex Reports Third Quarter 2004 Results

Wednesday November 10, 5:41 pm ET

hxxp://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041110/clw060_1.html

TORONTO, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Crystallex International Corporation (Amex: KRY; Toronto) today reported financial results of the Company for the third quarter ending September 30, 2004. All dollar figures are in US Dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Commenting on the Company's progress, Todd Bruce, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crystallex said, "Earlier this year, we made investments in our exploration and development programs in Venezuela and we are very pleased with the progress we're making and returns we're seeing on those investments. The 25% increase in the Las Cristinas gold reserves from 10.2 million ounces (246 million tonnes at 1.29 g/t at a gold price of US$325) to 12.8 million ounces (333 million tonnes at 1.20 g/t at a gold price of US$350) based on an infill drilling program costing some US$ 750,000 is a solid example of our progress (Crystallex News Release dated 9th of November, 2004)." Mr. Bruce continued, "We are equally encouraged with the permitting progress for Las Cristinas and the ongoing support from our partner Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana ("CVG") and the local communities. The confirmation of the prerequisite 'Land use Permit' (Crystallex News Release dated 4th August, 2004) reflects the building momentum for the development and successful operation of Las Cristinas project once the second, and final, permit, the permit to impact the environment, is received.

"To that end, we have hired the Las Cristinas General Manager, and the critical operational department heads, the Manager, Mining, the Manager, Processing, the Superintendent of Mine Maintenance and the Superintendent, Electrical and Instrumentation. The department heads have been brought up to Toronto and incorporated in the Las Cristinas design team at SNC Lavalin's offices as we seek to pre-emptively eliminate the risk area with which many emerging producers struggle, being the transition from designing and building a project to operating it. In August 2004 (Crystallex News Release dated 17th of August, 2004) we successfully negotiated the critical risk transition from feasibility study capital cost estimates to a Control Budget Capital Cost. The Control Budget process not only restricted non-discretionary cost increases to 4.9 % but provided us with the opportunity to materially enhance the project by reducing total cash operating costs and by further increasing the project's already robust rate of return. To date, a significant amount of preparatory work for the development of Cristinas has already been done, including the commitment of US$80 million in equipment orders and contracts."

 

Betting on Crystallex

Leckie said he started reducing the fund's holdings in Ivanhoe during the fourth quarter of 2003. The fund sold all its shares by June, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, after Ivanhoe's production project fell short of Leckie's estimates.

He's now betting on Crystallex International Corp., a stock he first bought in the fourth quarter. It's now the fund's fourth- largest holding. Shares of the owner of Venezuela's biggest gold deposit rallied 58 percent in the past three months, as the company released results of drilling tests at its Las Cristinas mine, which has proven and probable reserves of 12.8 million ounces.

``It's not easy to find 12 million ounces of gold in one lump that has not yet been developed,'' said Leckie, whose office is dotted with rocks from the mines he's visited.

aus:

Scudder Gold Fund Expects Extra Boost From Bush's Second Term
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Euan Leckie and Greg Foulis, managers of the top-performing Scudder Gold & Precious Metals Fund, expect to add to their gains with the help of President George W. Bush.

Bush's tax cuts and military spending helped turn a record budget surplus into a record deficit, causing the U.S. dollar to drop and gold prices to rise, Leckie said in an interview from his office at Deutsche Asset Management in Sydney. His re-election represents a ``continuation of the policy of large budget deficits,'' Leckie said.

``That's an overall positive environment for gold,'' said Leckie, 59, who received a geology degree from the University of Tasmania in 1966. His mutual fund had 88 percent of assets in gold- mining stocks at the end of September.

The $545.5 million Scudder fund rose at an average annual rate of 27.2 percent during the past five years, the best performance of 22 gold funds tracked by Bloomberg.

Leckie and Foulis, 43, search for mining companies that can increase production and reserves at below-average costs. The approach, which Foulis calls ``valuation geology,'' led them to Placer Dome Inc., Canada's second-largest gold miner, and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., a Vancouver-based company that's developing a copper and gold mine in Mongolia.