LONDON, Aug. 24, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Crew Gold Corporation ("Crew") (TSX:CRU) (OSE:CRU) (Frankfurt:KNC) (Other OTC:CRUGF). Based on Crew Gold Corporation receiving a notice from St. Jude indicating its desire to increase its interest in Hwini Butre to 65 percent, pursuant to the call option stipulated in the original agreement between the parties dated February 1995, Crew has offered, and St Jude has agreed to acquire Crew's remaining 25 percent interest in the concession, effective immediately. The total consideration to be paid for these transactions is US $5 million which shall be paid in equivalent number of St. Jude shares. As a result St. Jude will issue 2,995,000 common shares to Crew. These shares will be subject to a four-month statutory hold period, after which time one-third of these shares will be subject to a hold period spanning an additional 12 months.
The sale of HBM is a part of the company strategy to focus the company's human and financial resources on projects in, or close to production with a target of substantially increasing the company's gold production over the next one to three years.
Jan A. Vestrum
President and CEO
This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, and/or statements made by company officers or directors at any given time, as well as Crew's future plans are such forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and Crew does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should conditions or management's estimates or opinions change.
For more information please contact our UK Head Office (TEL +44 -1932 268755) or by email to enquiries@crewgold.com. For more information about Crew, additional contact information or to subscribe to future news releases, please visit our new Web site www.crewgold.com.