Crystallex mining Lo Increible

Vancouver-based Crystallex International (KRY-T) has started mining at the La Victoria open pit, one of six gold deposits at the company’s newly acquired Lo Increible project in Venezuela’s El Callao district.

About 50,000 tonnes averaging better than 3.2 grams per tonne have been mined to date, at cash costs of below US$200 per oz. in the first month of operation. Ore from the pit supplements feed from the Tomi gold mine for processing at Crystallex’s nearby Revemin mill.

Crystallex says the addition of La Victoria places it on-track to produce at an annual rate of 200,000 oz. by the end of 2002. A 10,000-metre drill program is under way at Lo Increible to convert inferred resources into minable reserves. This program will provide the basis for a proposed expansion of the Revemin mill to 3,000 tonnes per day from 1,500 tonnes. Capital costs are estimated at US$5.5 million. By 2002, Crystallex hopes to resume mining at its Albino 1 concession in the Kilometre 88 district. Ore would be processed at the Revemin mill.