The company was incorporated in 1984. It is a Canadian based company with its subsidiaries conducting gold mining operations in Venezuela. During 2006 the company produced gold from three deposits on the Tomi concession and from an open pit mine on the La Victoria concession. It also has interests in the Las Christinas property.

For the second quarter ended June 30, 2007 the company reported revenue of $4.9 million. This was almost 11% less than revenue generated for the same period a year ago. Also the net loss has increased by nearly 40% to $-11.6 million comparing on the same basis. Since December of 2006 the shareholders equity has increased 18% to $232 million. The company reported it had $39 million in cash at the end of the quarter.

Crystallex is about to start exploitation of Las Christinas deposit. It has been announced that the property holds proven reserves of about 16 million ounces of gold. The company is still waiting for the issuance of environmental permit before they can launch the construction and hiring activities. This expansion is anticipated to increase the production enough for the Crystallex to lift from the ranks of a junior producer to one in the intermediate range.


Here's the description from company's SEC filing:

Crystallex International Corporation (the "Corporation") is a corporation continued under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The registered and head office of the Corporation is located at 18 King Street East, Suite 1210, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1C4.

The Corporation and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Crystallex Group") xplore for, mine and produce gold, with a primary focus on Venezuela. The Corporation's principal asset is its interest in the Las Cristinas project located in Bolivar State, Venezuela. The Corporation's other assets include the Tomi operations, the Lo Increible properties (which include the La Victoria deposit), and the Revemin mill, all of which are located in Bolivar State, Venezuela.

The primary focus of the Corporation over the past five years has been the development of the Las Cristinas project, including:

  • entering into a mine operation agreement dated September 17, 2002, with Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (the "CVG");
  • supervising the preparation of the 20,000 TPD Feasibility Study;
  • completing financing transactions (including a C$115 million Common Share offering in April 2004, a US$100 million debt offering in December 2004, a C$10 million short term note financing in September 2005 in conjunction with the establishment of a C$60 million equity draw down facility, a US$31 million private placement in February 2006, the receipt of C$21.6 million and C$5 million pursuant to draw downs under the equity draw down facility in the fourth quarter of 2005 and January 2006, respectively, and a C$32.4 million offering of units in August 2006), and an early exercise of certain Common Share purchase warrants for proceeds of US$6.04 million;
  • closing of the Corporation's outstanding commodity contract
  • obligations of US$14,000,000 million as part of the restructuring (including arranging a new debt facility for the hedge settlement amount and amending an existing debt facility) of its outstanding obligations with Standard Bank PLC ("SB"). In May 2006 the Corporation issued 3.8 million common shares to SB as settlement of the $7.5 million exchangeable portion of the bank loan.;
  • working to acquire the necessary permits (including the submission of an environmental impact study);
  • entering into an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management Contract (the "EPCM Contract") with SNC-Lavalin and supervising the engineering and procurement process;
  • supervising the preparation of a NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report, which represented an update to the 20,000 TPD Feasibility Study (the "2005 Development Plan") completed in August 2005 by SNC-Lavalin, MDA and other independent consultants.;
  • 98% completion of detailed engineering and design work and purchasing all long lead time equipment; and
  • securing the Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining ("MIBAM") approval of the technical, commercial and contractual compliances aspects of the Las Cristinas project in March 2006.

 

The Corporation produced approximately 47,000 ounces of gold in 2006 fromits operations in Venezuela, including the Tomi open-pit and underground mines, the La Victoria open-pit mine and ore purchased from third parties. All the ore from these sources is processed at the Corporation's Revemin mill. The Corporation continues to conduct exploration on the Tomi properties with the aim of finding sufficient open-pit ore to supply the Revemin mill after the depletion of the existing Tomi pits during 2008.

The Corporation conducted a diamond drill program at Las Cristinas from October 2006 to February 2007 and it is anticipated that an updated resource and reserve estimate will be completed by the end of June, 2007. The drilling program focused on three areas of the Las Cristinas property: (1) the western margin of the planned Conductora pit where mineralization is open at depth down-dip; (2) the extreme southwest of the planned Conductora pit where a sheet of relatively shallow ore was discovered in the hanging wall of the main Conductora ore zone in previous drilling; and (3) the Morrocoy zone which lies in the northern part of the property. Known mineralization in the Morrocoy zone has similar characteristics to that of the Conductora area which contains the bulk of the known mineral ore reserves at Las Cristinas. Previous drilling of the Morrocoy zone was relatively wide-spaced to the extent that known mineralization there is classified as an inferred mineral resource. Crystallex believes that there is sufficient continuity of mineralization at Morrocoy to warrant denser drilling with the objective of upgrading the inferred mineral resources to the measured and indicated category. If this objective is achieved, the Morrocoy zone could contribute to an increase in the overall mineral reserves at Las Cristinas.