Venezuelan Supreme Court have not ruled for arbitration in the Cristinas Mines case

An update about the dispute on South America's largest mine and fifth in the world, and the opportunity of new contract for a new canadian mining company in Venezuela

Caracas, June 24. The President of the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), General Francisco Rangel Gómez, denied that the Venezuelan Supreme Court had ordered an international arbitration proceeding in an effort to resolve the dispute of the Cristinas Mines in Venezuela.
General Rangel Gómez said that the comments made recently by Vanessa Ventures Ltds president, Manfred Peschke, do not correspond to legal reality in Venezuela".
No legal measure has been approved until now by the Venezuelan Supreme Court regarding international arbitration in the Cristinas Mines case", he said.
In a statement made last June 16, 2002, Vannessa Ventures Ltds president, Manfred Peschke stated that the Venezuelan Supreme Court accepted a request for international arbitration made by his company in order to resolve its dispute against the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana regarding the Cristinas Mines.
Vannessa Ventures Ltd.s president further added that it had formally initiated the international arbitration process against the Venezuelan government" in the Cristinas case.
The CVGs president said that, until now, the Venezuelan Supreme Court had just released two decisions about the Cristinas case, both of them upon Vannessa Ventures Ltd.s request. Additionally, in its decision dated March 19, 2002, (which was referenced by Mr. Peschke in his statement dated last June 16) the Supreme Court never approved any decision to arbitrate.
Rangel Gómez said that both decisions are public and available on the internet, where all the Venezuelan Supreme Court decisions are published. (See: www.tsj.gov.ve/decisiones/scon/Febrero/294-190202-01-2624%20.htm, and www.tsj.gov.ve/decisiones/scon/Marzo/495-190302-02-0268%20.htm).
It cant be said that an international arbitration process against the Venezuelan government has been initiated, as announced by Vannessa Ventures Ltd, simply because no such Supreme Court decision exists regarding this matter", commented General Rangel Gómez.
Finally, General Rangel Gómez stated that the legal decisions made by the Venezuelan government do not constitute in any way a violation of the Agreement regarding the Protection of Foreign Investments signed by both Venezuela and Canada. On the contrary, the Corporación Venezolana de Guayanas respect for the rule of law in resolving the conflict regarding Las Cristinas opens the door for other companies [operating in] the extraordinary mining sector of Canada that are the pioneers and the vanguard of international mining".