"have both parties agreed to extend the deadline"?

Obviously they have

GW, I did also ask about whether the parties formally extended the deadline to a certain date or are just finishing up the issues when I wrote RM yesterday, and his reply was that both parties are actively working on all parts of the JV agreement -- this tells me that they are doing just that and that neither sees the deadline in the initial agreement as and kind of issue.

I take away from that: KRY and China Railway are working diligently to finish up the details and feel no need for any formal deadline extension. This is NOT any kind of material event and need not be commented on by Crystallex, even if China Railway approved of such a release.