Crystallex International Corporation (Toronto, Vancouver) today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Delpet Resources Ltd. (Vancouver) to acquire a 65% interest in a promising gold concession, known as the Mineiro property, a 9,600 hectare concession, located in Northern Brazil. The property was previously drilled by BP Minerals who outlined a reserve of over 2.87 million tonnes at an average grade of 3.57 g/t au (329,450 oz.). ''We are quite excited about this new addition to our portfolio, and the potential it represents,'' stated Mr. Marc J. Oppenheimer, President and CEO of Crystallex. He further added, ''This project has excellent attributes, and we believe it can contribute significantly for our shareholders. It is the first acquisition of our recently announced expansion program and complements out current holdings, both geographically and operationally.''

It is important to note that the Mineiro property had been previously investigated by BP Minerals through mapping, trenching, soil geochemistry and over 6,600 metres of shallow diamond drilling. At that time, BP Minerals only explored the open pit potential of the property. Further supporting the Company's enthusiasm for the property and the country's potential is the investigation of adjacent properties by other major mining companies such as Echo Bay, Anglo-American, TVX Gold, BHP Minerals and C.V.R.D.

Dr. Luca Riccio, the Company's Vice President of Exploration, provided this technical assessment, ''This property is underlain by volcanic-sedimentary sequences of the Vila Nova greenstone belt. The gold mineralization of the property occurs as shallow plunging ore shoots within a clastic succession of quartzite and graphitic schists near a granite contact. The discovery of widespread disseminated low-grade mineralization, including 111 meters of 0.76 g/t gold in a granitic body at the edge of the property, provides support for our evaluation. The gold reserves are contained within a 2 km long segment of a 14 km long shear zone which was drilled by BP Minerals to an average vertical depth of less than 50 meters.'' When asked about the Company's timeline for exploration on the new property, Dr. Riccio responded, ''Our initial exploration will begin January 1997, with expectations that further drill targets will be identified and initiated by mid 1997.''

The letter of intent calls for Crystallex to pay the sum of US $250,000, issue 100,000 shares of stock to Delpet and spend US $500,000 in exploration expenditures on the Mineiro property. ''Through joint ventures such as this we can move more quickly to establish Crystallex as a top tier player in the industry,'' commented Mr. Oppenheimer.

Crystallex International Corporation is a gold mining and exploration company. The company's Albino mine is the first foreign-owned gold mine operating in the Kilometre 88 region of Venezuela. The Company's strategy for growth is to develop its portfolio of properties in Venezuela as well as to diversify geographically by investing in producing or near-production projects and by exploring properties of merit in other areas of the world.

On Behalf of the Board,

"Marc J, Oppenheimer"

Marc J, Oppenheimer, President & CEO

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