Crystallex advances La Victoria (March 27, 2002)

Vancouver – A diamond drill program by Crystallex International (KRY-T) has cut a high-grade gold shoot within the La Victoria deposit in Venezuela.

The latest program was designed to upgrade the reserve and resources contained within the limits of the Intermediate pit, which is presently being mined at a rate of 1,500 tonnes per day. The results confirm the continuity of the mineralization with two of the holes cutting a high-grade ore shoot at the southern end of the pit. Hole 3 returned 20.50 metres grading 14.1 gram gold and hole 13 hit 17.2 metres grading 4.41 grams gold and 33.1 metres averaging 8.07 grams gold. Other highlights from the drilling include:

• Hole1 – 7.5 metres grading 2.72 grams gold,
• Hole 7 – 4.5 metres grading 6.44 grams gold,
• Hole 8 – 7.2 metres grading 5.27 grams gold,
• Hole 9 – 7.7 metres grading 10.85 grams gold,
• Hole 11 – 3 metres grading 9.28 grams gold,
• Hole 14 – 13 metres grading 4.03 grams gold,
• Hole 20 – 5.1 metres grading 11.6 grams gold,
• Hole 22 – 7.6 metres grading 8.37 grams gold,
• Hole 25 – 7.9 metres grading 7.52 grams gold,
• Hole 27 – 6.9 metres grading 9.08 grams gold, and
• Hole 34 – 11.7 metres grading 5.64 grams gold.

Lying along a brittle-ductile deformation zone known as the Lo Increible belt, La Victoria marks one of several deposits that extends over a strike length of over 15 km near the town of El Callao in Bolivar state.

At last count, the deposit holds 5.11 million tonnes grading 3.14 grams gold per tonne in the indicated category and 8.63 million tonnes grading 3.19 grams gold in the inferred category based on a 1.0 gram gold cut- off.

“Our exploration work at La Victoria,” says the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Marc Oppenheimer, “(plus) the investment allocated to the future opening of two underground mines and the expansion of our Revemin mill facilities, demonstrate the Company’s commitment to playing a positive role in the success of the gold industry in Bolivar State.”

Based on the results, a new resource calculation is underway. Crystallex plans to launch another round of drilling in the second quarter of the year. This program will be aimed at upgrading the reserves at a second pit, dubbed Ultimate.