Crew, Moraga state reserves on Vancouver Island property

A preliminary reserve estimate was released by Crew Natural Resources (VSE) for the Red Dog copper property on northern Vancouver Island.

The project is near a producing copper mine, and is being developed under the terms of an option agreement between Crew and Moraga Resources (VSE). Moraga is earning a 45% working interest and can acquire an additional option to earn a further 5% working interest.

Based on a report by an independent engineering consultant, the Red Dog property is now estimated to contain a preliminary reserve of about 203 million tons grading 0.17% copper, 0.006 oz. gold per ton and 0.004% molybdenum. The report concluded that this reserve would grade a copper equivalent of 0.334% above a 0.2% copper equivalent cutoff.

The reserve calculation study used block modelling techniques utilizing all available drill data.

The engineering study also examined a preliminary pit layout for the Red Dog Hill zone which concluded that the optimized pit would contain 45.25 million tons grading 0.26% copper, 0.006% molybdenum and 0.01 oz. gold per ton, or 0.52% copper equivalent (above a 0.2% copper equivalent cutoff).

Crew noted that the stripping ratio for such a pit would be low as the deposit is mineralized virtually from surface, with waste rock consisting of internal dykes and a thin soil layer.

More drilling is planned for the Red Dog and Slide Creek zones this year, and other prospective zones will be explored in future programs so that the overall reserve potential of the property can be assessed.