Bruce joins Crystallex

Eight months after resigning as president of Iamgold (IMG-T) following its merger with royalty firm Repadre Capital, Todd Bruce is assuming the positions of president, CEO and director of Crystallex International (KRY-T).

Bruce, Iamgold’s president and chief operating officer from February 1996 to January 2003, helped bring the Sadiola and Yatela gold mines into commercial production in 1997 and 2001, respectively. From 1980 to January 1996, he held senior management positions with South Africa-based Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co. and its successor company, Anglo American Platinum.

Marc Oppenheimer, Crystallex’s president and CEO since 1995, has become the company’s vice-chairman, while Robert Fung remains as chairman. The move takes Oppenheimer, a figure unpopular with many Crystallex shareholders, out of the limelight. Calls for a change in management reached a peak two months ago, when Crystallex shares were suspended from trading for most of July while the Toronto Stock Exchange reviewed the company’s eligibility for continued listing.

The matter was settled by Crystallex’s restating its financials for 2000, 2001, 2002 and the first quarter of 2003, which resulted in US$10.9 million more in losses than first reported.

Crystallex recently presented a long-anticipated full feasibility study of the 10-million-oz. Las Cristinas gold project in Venezuela to state-owned Corporacion Venezolana Guyana and Venezuela’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (T.N.M., Sept. 22-28/03).

The study came only a couple of days after the company closed a US$28.2-million private placement of 12.8 million warrants priced at US$2.20 apiece, with each warrant exercisable into one share within three years for US$2.75 per share.

“For Crystallex to develop Las Cristinas and move to the next level in the hierarchy of gold mining companies, we must increase our mining operation expertise at the CEO level — that is why I am delighted that Todd will be joining us,” says Oppenheimer.

Says Bruce: “The best way to build a first-class company is quite simple: you assemble a top-quality management team, you construct a solid balance sheet, and then you use those two to full advantage to go and lever the full value out of a world-class deposit. It’s a bit easier said than done, but from my perspective, that’s exactly what Crystallex has achieved.”

Meanwhile, back at Iamgold, co-chairman and co-founder Mark Nathanson has resigned from both positions for personal reasons.

In the field, Iamgold has just signed a joint-venture exploration agreement with Barrick Gold (ABX-T) in the 7,510-sq.-km Los Menucos area of Argentina’s Rio Negro province. Barrick can earn a 70% interest in the Patagonian properties by staged exploration expenditures totalling US$12.5 million over eight years.