As described in Section 5.0, the Las Cristinas site is located within the sub-equatorial tropical zone in a

flat area with minor undulations, parts of which, under normal conditions, are subject to flooding.

Although much of the site has been previously disturbed by small-scale mining, the area can generally

be characterized as tropical rain forest with a distinct rainy season between May and September and a

drier period from January to April. Despite the fact that the Las Cristinas area has been designated as a

mining district, it lies within the boundaries of the Imataca Forest Reserve and therefore is subjected to

more stringent environmental controls than areas outside of the Imataca Reserve.

A significant portion of the concession area (approximately 34% of total area of the concessions, and

53% of area required to develop the project) has been intensely disturbed by previous mining activities.

Although the surficial laterite soils are not very productive, vegetation grows very quickly, and

biological diversity of the area is high. Crystallex has updated air quality, soil, flora and fauna baseline

studies of the area and continues to monitor water quality within the project area.

Ethnically the population is divided between indigenous and “