This is RM's response to my question on the 20% drop yesterday.

Hello - Nothing has changed ..... I have pasted below a DJ article that seemed to create some confusion late yesterday afternoon in what was already a very ugly market with the TSX, DAX, FTSE and Hang Seng all down sharply. DJ ran a headline for +/-20 mins that Crystallex had been closed down in Venezuela by the tax authority. The body/editorial comments of the DJ story weren't made public until after the close of the market.

I have spoken with our Caracas office and they said one of the small Crystallex offices (in fact an office cubicle) in received a 24 - 48 hour suspension notice from the seniat following an routine office tax visit. The suspension order was this past Friday (Jan 18) until 5pm Sunday evening (Jan 20). So it has already passed and had no impact on business.

The order had nothing to do with the rest of Crystallex, nor any other Crystallex offices nor any activities outside of that small office cubicle.

These types of 24-48 hour shut downs are very common by the Venezuelan Seniat when they cannot get access to records or answers in an immediate fashion. This was immaterial.

regards,

Richard

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Venezuelan Tax Unit Orders Temporary Closing Of Crystallex

Dow Jones Newswires - January 21, 2008 4:03 PM ET

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's Seniat tax agency on Monday ordered a two-day closing of Crystallex in connection with alleged tax irregularities.

Crystallex de Venezuela, the local unit of Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. (KRY), must close its main offices for two business days starting immediately and must pay a small fine, the Seniat said in a statement.

During a review of value-added-tax obligations, the Seniat found that Crystallex's "books could not be found in the premises," the note added.

The Seniat regularly closes the offices of foreign and local businesses for a few days as a penalty for tax law violations.

-By Raul Gallegos; Dow Jones Newswires; +58-212-564-1339; raul.gallegos@...

Dow Jones Newswires