NEW YORK (ResourceInvestor.com) -- With investors in Crystallex [KRY] hanging on for a permit promised this month for the company's Cristinas project, additional information from Venezuela indicates that the decision may be linked to the Brisas project owned by Gold Reserve [GRZ].
This past Friday Venezuela's Mining & Basic Industries (MIBM) Minister, Victor Alvarez, told Reuters that the Crystallex permit to be issued by the Environment Ministry (MARN) was "on track", adding "for our part, we're going ahead with the Crystallex project."
However, a few days earlier an Environment Ministry official told Business News Americas that officials are studying the "integration" of Cristinas and Brisas. MARN's Sergio Rodr'iguez said there was one issue logjamming the process, going to say: "We will not deal with the issues separately but the result will be a uniform regulation for all the mining projects."
The hitching issue is speculated to be the dispute between Gold Reserve and Crystallex over a water diversion ditch.
BNA's article is built on a National Assembly Permanent Commission on the Environment press release issued the same day that indirectly referenced the dispute under the guise of addressing illegal mining in Bol'ivar State.
Permanent Commission President Luis D'Angelo seemed to go out of his way to rebut the conclusions of a recent Commission report - which he signed - that amounted to a de facto dismissal of Gold Reserve's protest about the water channel.
The May 31 press release comes well after the Commission report, but D'Angelo made it clear that the National Assembly committee will have no power in determining the granting of outstanding permits.
Furthermore, the release goes on to quote MARN's Sergio Rodr'iguez as saying that he preferred Gold Reserve's proposal to run a water diversion channel to the north rather than to the south.
Crystallex spokesman Richard Marshall said the company was not aware of any issues and the Cristinas permit remains on track.
Gold Reserve continues to apply pressure to have the water diversion channel conflict resolved before any permits are issued.
