The manner, method and source of this supposed denial has the smell of 7 day old Fish. Let's expand on motives. The environmental "sensitivities" is total BS ( the illegal miners have been polluting the area for decades).Manipulation No. 1 is $$$$$ and my nose tells me that this goes right to the top - Chavez. In the past I've had the thought that negative news was a way for Chavez and influential cronies to make million$ and this last caper takes the cake. With this supposed statement by the "Director G" Chavez can accomplish a number of things. 1. make millions. 2. renegotiate the Kry MOA. 3. And this is bigger than 1 & 2 - send a message to any number of other companies in varying negotiation stages in many industries that they had better accept less vs nothing. Companies with million$ already invested in the pursuit of their respective projects, while be more inclined to accept a lower %age in order to stay whole. Kry was targeted because it's the biggest untapped resource that has $200mm already invested. We will probably not hear anything definitive in the next few days as the negotiations proceed and then we'll have the Dog & Pony show with Chavez playing Mighty Mouse or Andy Kaufman(here I come to save the day). The main focus that VZ must put these mines into production is JOBS and 35,000 miners in the Bolivar state. Chavez has no chance of getting an extension on the dictatorial powers when they expire in July if the country is in revolt because of NO work. WE ARE NOT DONE, KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY. Roberto