VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Crew Development Corporation (TSE:CRU) (OSLO:CRU) (Frankfurt:KNC) (Other OTC:CRWVF) is pleased to announce that Nalunaq Gold Mine has been formally incorporated and commenced the final preparations towards the start of production in 2003. Mr. Finn Mortensen was appointed the managing director of Nalunaq Gold Mine A/S, while the Board of Directors include Messrs. Ole Christiansen, Vagn Andersen, Jon S. Petersen, Jan Vestrum and Wolf Seidler (Chairman).
The Greenlandic Bureau of Mines and Petroleum is completing its review of the company's application for a mining permit, currently scheduled for final processing in the first quarter of 2003. The mine construction is expected to start in the first half of 2003, and the economics of the operation are considered robust. Average annual production is projected to be 90,000 oz. at a cash operating cost of U.S. $168 per oz., and based on an initial ore production of 350 tonnes per day.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with Richmont Mines Inc. for batch treatment of the Nalunaq ore at Nugget Pond processing plant in Newfoundland. Crew will add a gravity circuit to the existing CIP facility to ensure maximum recovery of the high-grade Nalunaq ore. Initial shipping of the stockpile, which to date contains over 23,000 oz. of recoverable gold, will commence as soon as the necessary infrastructure for transfer of the ore has been established in Greenland, while subsequent regular ore production is scheduled to be available for shipping within 3-4 months thereafter.
While the main objective of the 2002 development program was preparation for the start of mining, the company is pleased to report that the underground work has allowed a positive upgrade of the resources, which has been independently verified by SRK consultants, Toronto. The measured and indicated resources were increased by 100,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes and added nearly 33,000 oz. to a total of 429,282 oz. gold of M&I resources at an average grade of 22 g/t. Although no exploration drilling was conducted in 2002, the inferred resources remained essentially unchanged at 284,136 tonnes with an average grade of 20 g/t equivalent to 182,782 oz. gold. Jon Steen Petersen, V.P. Exploration -- who is a qualified person, has verified the above statements.
For more information or to be put on our email list, please contact the Vancouver Office, (604) 683 7585 or U.S./Canada Toll Free: 1-866-818-2211, email: ir@crewdev.com or the Oslo Office at +47 67 59 2424, email crew@crew.no. Visit our website at http://www.crewdev.com.