So I was asked to make a request of Shanghai Fly to keep tabs on a local company called Shandong Gold Group, which is developing the Sosa Mendez property.

Our good fortune is that Shanghai Fly has become a composite as there are now several independent individuals there who are networking with me. I asked them all.

The first letter came in as follows:

Hi Bill,

I made some quick check regarding Shandong Gold Group. Here are some findings for your reference.

1. The Listco (600547/SH) is a subsidiary company controlled by Shandong Gold Group. Shandong Gold Group holds around 51% of the shares of the Listco.

2. Shandong Gold Group has another joint venture with Yan Zhou Mining Group called "Venezuela Jin Yan stock company" (VenezuelaCo). Shandong Gold Group owns 68%, Yan Zhou Mining Group owns 32%. The VenezuelaCo is registered in Venezuela in 2003 and is developing the Sosa Mendez Gold Mine in partnership with CVG Minerven. The arrangement of partnership is unknown.

3. There are some news (could be rumor) that the Venezuela project is near completion and they could start formal production of gold in the end of this year. Given the recent signs of good relationship between China and Venezuela, it should not have major problem in getting relevant government approval for production.

Above all, the Venezuela project has nothing to do with the Listco, unless some day that the Shandong Gold Groups injects its equity in VenezuelaCo into the Listco.

cheers,

On behalf of us all, I thank this Grassrooter (the name I am now calling the Team Cara volunteers). As our network grows, all readers will see the power of sharing information, and I'm going to push the envelope like no one has before. I'll unveil the plan in a week or two, but in the interim I'll be looking for techies who would like to contribute some programming hours. I'm in the process of organizing that now.

By googling Sosa Mendez Gold, I came up with a very informative report of the U.S. Dept of Commerce report (2002) on mining in Venezuela.

This material covers the Shandong Gold Group of China, which operates in Venezuela. Also covered is Crystallex as well as info on taxes, royalties and the like.

If any reader would like to take the time to flesh out more current reports of this kind, and link them here, I am sure others would appreciate the gesture.

I believe strongly that the gold market is about to break out to the upside, and that junior resource companies with large mining developments underway will be the best market play.

Moreover, and this is the point of the article, I believe that whenever a wide gap exists between perception and fact, there is an exceptional opportunity for trading gains. Because of the political rhetoric that has been coming out of Washington recently, nowhere is the gap presently bigger than with respect to foreign investment in Venezuela.

I am very confident that Crystallex (AMEX, T: KRY) will work out because I believe the company will very soon receive the third and final permit (environmental) to proceed.

Of course, next best would be to hear President Chavez make some positive statements along those lines to his Chinese hosts this week.

ADDENDUM: Re: Shandong Gold Group(symbol 600547 SH)

ADDENDUM #2:

The original Shanghai Fly has forwarded this info:

I looked around on sites and even the company's main site in Chinese, but I didn't find anything substantially related that was recent. I'll keep an eye on it.

Here are some interesting financial numbers for 600547. It has 1.3 billion yuan in assets, and 658 million yuan in liabilites(total). Earnings have been soaring of course, due to the gold bull market. 2003 saw 0.23 yuan per share earned, 2004 saw 0.36 yuan put into the coffers, 2005 saw 0.55 yuan per share in the black, and it's only halftime in 2006 and it's earned 0.35 yuan per share already. It currently has a P/E of 39.6(600489 has a P/E of 34.7). It has 160 million shares outstanding, 75 million floated on the secondary market, the rest controlled by other state owned corporations.

Sorry for the somewhat delayed response, didn't really find anything(the main news reports mentioned Chavez's visit. It appears to be friendly {Washington won't be pleased} as Chavez agreed to increase oil exports to China.

A 500,000 barrel in oil imports per day(which is the objective for 2009) http://english.people.com.cn/200608/26/eng20060826_297063.html Other deals mentioned as well in the article. Currently is around 300,000 a day to China (something like 1.5 million to the US ) according to relevant sources..) is worth $36.5 million a day.). Thought I'd send this fundamental stuff.

Not too much info about the deals with ShanDong Gold though, Shandong Gold has a market capitalization of 4392 million yuan/$800 million.