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Company Information for Crew Gold Corp

Company stock charts - 6 Month chart

Exchange TSX; CRU


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Company Statement

Crew is an international mining company focused on identifying, acquiring, developing and operating mineral resource projects.

Crew has an operating gold mine (Nalunaq) in Greenland with an annual production rate target of 80,000 to 90,000 ounces, a gold mine in Guinea (LEFA) that has an annual production rate target of 360,000 to 420,000 ounces. Crew also has a gold mine (Maco) in the Philippines with a 500 t/d processing plant which was commissioned in Q1 of 2007 and to which a larger processing capacity is being added. This project is expected to have an annual production rate target of greater than 50,000 ounces once complete. In addition to its interests in these gold mining operations, Crew also controls gold and other development projects in Greenland, Ghana, Canada, the Philippines and Norway.
Crew Gold Corporation (“Crew” or the “Company”) focuses on:

  • Gold production at its 3 operating mines;
  • Gold exploration; and
  • Identifying, acquiring and developing mineral projects worldwide.

Crew has a portfolio of gold assets containing majority ownership of three current and near-term expanding gold mines in Guinea, the Philippines and Greenland.


Current Operations

LEFA Corridor Gold Project - Guinea
The LEFA Corridor Gold Project is located approximately 700 km northeast of Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea. The principal concession, governed by the Convention de Base, covers an area of approximately 1,500 km2 and is known as the Dinguiraye Concession. LEFA also has a further six contiguous properties over which Crew has rights derived from six prospecting permits not governed by the Convention de Base, bringing the total project area to approximately 2,379 km2.

Gold produced in the quarter ended September 30, 2008 was 46,078 oz (quarter ended September 30, 2007 – 27,122 oz) and for the nine months to September 30, 2008 was 144,652 oz (nine months to September 30, 2007 – 66,484 oz).

The gold produced over the six quarters to June 2008 is shown in the table below:

QuarterQ2 2007Q3 2007Q4 2007Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3 2008 
Ounces Produced 24,16827,12230,44345,04353,53146,078

The slight decrease in gold production between Q2 and Q3 2008 was the result of the rainy season and  scheduled stoppages for the rectification programme.

Maco Gold Project, Mindanao Island, Philippines
The Company’s principal gold asset in the Philippines is the Maco Gold Mine in south-eastern Mindanao Island, which originally ceased production in March 2000. The Maco Gold Mine was previously referred to as the Masara Gold Mine by the Company, however the Company determined this past year that it was more appropriate to rename the project to recognize the entire municipality where the mining occurs rather than one particular village near the mine.

The Company acquired its interest in Maco through its acquisition, with its associated Philippine partner, of approximately 72.9% of Apex Mining Company Limited (“Apex”), which operates Maco.

The Company inherited a processing plant with its acquisition of Maco and set about its refurbishment. This process has been completed and the plant was commissioned in Q1, 2007. This pilot plant processes the development ore that would otherwise need to be stockpiled and has continued to operate on this ore in 2008. With an improvement in pumping capacity the plant will be able to sustain a crushing and milling rate of up to 700 tpd.;

The pilot plant allows the batch treatment of ore with variable grade and variable concentrations of base metals and has identified the appropriate treatment route. At the same time in the initial aim of reducing reagent consumption, off-site testing has established a very promising future for installing flotation up front to reduce overall reagent cost, increase gold recovery and produce saleable copper and zinc concentrates.

A higher capacity tailings management facility at Maco has been constructed with no disruption to operations. The timely completion of this facility will allow for sustainable production. The design is such that subsequent upgrades can be done in-house using mine waste and low permeability material from on site.

In 2007, an expanded exploration license was granted, including an additional area containing potential copper porphyry. New exploration has focused on providing infill drilling to better define the known and most accessible resources with a lesser emphasis on drilling for extensions. The extension and interpretation of the orebodies has been mainly through surface mapping and review of historical data.

Mining
The mining methodology of the vertical vein systems chosen for the redevelopment of the property is sub level open stoping, with mechanized and non-mechanized stoping. Such mining requires substantial underground development, both infrastructural and the vein sub levels. The upper levels of the mine left by historical mining between the surface and 200 m below are largely inaccessible and mined out. It appears that there are resources that may occur immediately below the historic workings and a further down dip that can be accessed. The sub level system provides for vein drive at 15 m vertical intervals with major footwall drives and haulages at 60 m vertical intervals. Ramp systems to access the horizontal drives will be provided approximately every 500 m along the strike of the vein systems.

Stoping commenced early in 2007. Additional mining areas are also being developed which will allow for flexibility and possible changes in production due to exploration and sampling results. The production ramp up, however, will be dependent on a number of factors most notably the availability of mining equipment, the rate of underground development and the granting of necessary operational permits.

In Q3 2008 stoping commenced as planned on the sill level 530 on the western extremity of the Bonanza main vein. Production from the five trial slopes meant that Maco was able to sustain a higher grade of ore delivery to the plant.

Processing
The pilot plant allows the batch treatment of ore with variable grade and variable concentrations of base metals and has identified the appropriate treatment route. At the same time in the initial aim of reducing reagent consumption, off-site testing has established a very promising future for installing flotation up front to reduce overall reagent cost, increase gold recovery and produce saleable copper and zinc concentrates.

Experience during processing in 2007 and more recently in early 2008 confirmed that the 500 t/d plant would be capable of processing up to 700 t/d with good recoveries. The upgrading of certain pumps and lines has been achieved and 700 t/d is now being achieved on a consistent basis.

During the last quarter of 2007, the design of the new tailings management facility was completed and work commenced. The first phase of construction will provide tailings capacity into 2009 as the tailings underground backfill is installed. The use of the tailings as backfill means that the current site can provide capacity for several years’ production.

Nalunaq Gold Mine
In the third quarter of 2008, the Corporation undertook a comprehensive review of the ore resources at Nalunaq as the ore strike lengths have not been meeting management’s expectations. As a result of the review and the economics of current mining, Crew decided to suspend mining operations at Nalunaq. Upon completion of the extraction of the currently developed ore body, Nalunaq will be placed on care and maintenance. It is anticipated that this will occur prior to December 31, 2008. The processing of the remaining ore will continue at the Nugget Pond facility in Newfoundland, Canada and upon completion of this processing the Nugget Pond facility may also be placed on care and maintenance unless profitable toll milling contracts are successfully concluded.

Crew believes that the high operating costs of the operation and the requirement to spend further significant amounts on exploration to obtain delineation of the ore body justifies the decision to place the mine on care and maintenance. While there remains a significant gold resource at Nalunaq the current cost of mining, shipping and processing renders the mine uneconomic for the Corporation to pursue at this time.

Nugget Pond Processing Facility (for ore from Nalunaq), Newfoundland, Canada
On October 27, 2006, the Corporation reached an agreement with New Island Resources Inc to acquire Nugget Pond in Newfoundland, Canada. The Corporation refurbished the facility and commenced processing ore produced from Nalunaq in early 2007.

Ore processing commenced in late February 2007 and has continued since then. Performance of the plant has been better than expected and consequently, the planned activities to expand production have not been required. Ore is shipped to Goodyear Cove at South Brook in Newfoundland and then trucked to site.

Due to the production halt at Nalunaq, it is expected that Nugget Pond will be placed on care and maintenance when it has completed processing the pre December 31, 2008 ore from Nalunaq if profitable toll milling contracts are not negotiated.


Geographical Spread

Greenland, Guinea, the Philippines, Canada


Board of Directors and Key Management

Directorate
Cameron Belsher Chairman, British Columbia, Canada
William LeClair Interim Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Brian Hosking Director, Surrey, UK
Emil Morfett Director, Oslo, Norway
Richard Robinson Director, UK
Simon Russell Director, British Columbia, Canada
Jens Ulltveit-Moe Director, Oslo, Norway
Management
Rory Taylor
Neil Hepworth
Andrew Abbott
Wayne Nicoletto
Ian Moody
Gerard Bagnell
Fernando Agustin
Geoffrey Roberts

Company Address

ABBEY HOUSE
WELLINGTON WAY
WEYBRIDGE
SURREY, United Kingdom KT13 0TT

Telephone:+44 193 226 8755
Facsimile:+44 193 226 8756
Email:IR[at]crew.no
Website:http://www.crewgold.com

Additional Address/Key Contact

For IR and other enquiries, please send email to:
investorrelations@crewgold.com

Capital

Shares outstanding - 422,524,875

Annual General Meeting

December

Year End

June 31st

Nominated Brokers

N/A

Nominated Advisors

Pareto and First Securities

Major Shareholders

Holding Percentage Name
129,622,489 26.30238 UMOE INDUSTRI AS
8,490,074 1.72277 AGRA AS
8,079,979 1.63955 KBC SECURITIES
6,076,700 1.23305 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO
5,040,000 1.02269 SEB PRIVATE BANK S.A
4,849,000 0.98394 DNB NOR SMB VPF
3,398,200 0.68955 KLP LK AKSJER
2,890,000 0.58642 SAND ERIK STAUBO
2,679,000 0.54361 BJÅMER AS
2,671,800 0.54215 VERDIPAPIRFONDET KLP

Related News

19/01/09 - Crew Gold Is Taking A Large Bet On The LEFA Gold Mine After Other Operations Were Scaled Back Last Year
03/06/08 - Crew Gold Plays Hard To Get And Its Strategy Is Difficult to Understand

Most Recent Statement

22/06/09 - Crew Gold Corporation: Revised Production Guidance for LEFA for 2009
19/05/09 - Crew Gold Corporation Conference Call Details for Q1 Financial Results for Quarter Ended March 31, 2009
24/03/09 - Crew Gold Corporation Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2008- Results- Conference Call
27/02/09 - Unaudited Results for the Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2008 Corporate Governance Updates
23/02/09 - Q4 Unaudited Financial Statement Release
23/02/09 - Crew Gold Corporation: Q4 Unaudited Financial Statement Release

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