Crew eyes $28.7 million

Vancouver — Intent on advancing its 67%-owned high-grade Nalunaq gold deposit into production, Crew Development (CRU-T) is raising $28.7 million.

The private placement consists of 25.37 million units priced at $1.13 each. One unit comprises one share and half a warrant. One full warrant enables the holder to purchase an additional share at $1.47 for a period of one year.

Crew plans on using the funds to advance what could be Greenland’s first ever gold mine. The Nalunaq deposit is a high-grade, narrow-vein underground gold deposit 40 km from the village of Nanortalik on the southern tip of Greenland.

Crew acquired a half-interest in the project in 1999 by merging with Mindex, a Norwegian exploration company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Mindex became involved at Nalunaq in 1997 and, to the end of 1999, a total of US$8.3 million had been spent on the project.

Having completed a $7.2-million program of underground development and bulk-sampling, Crew increased its stake in the project to 67%. The remaining interest is held by NunaMinerals (formerly Nunaoil), a government-owned company that had been funding the project on a 50-50 basis up until last year.

Nalunaq is a gold-bearing quartz vein and calc-silicate altered shear system that outcrops on the eastern and northern faces of Nalunaq Mountain. It was first discovered in 1992 by Nunaoil as a follow-up to a regional stream-sediment and scree-sampling program undertaken in the late 1980s.

Gold occurs in a free state and almost exclusively in association with quartz in veins and veinlets. Minor gold mineralization is present in calc-silicate rocks immediately adjacent to the veins and in calc-silicate rocks between vein splits. This is most likely attributed to the presence of micro quartz veinlets.

As part of a prefeasibility study completed in March 1999, MRDI Canada estimated that indicated and inferred resources totaled 374,000 tonnes grading 26.4 grams gold per tonne, equivalent to 317,000 contained ounces. The calculations were based on a cutoff grade of 100 grams. MRDI used the assay data from 58 diamond drill holes completed up to that time, plus sampling results of the vein at surface and in the adit, to conclude that the vein averaged a thickness of 0.6 metre and a grade of 53.7 grams.

By the end of last year, Crew had received 80% of the test mining bulk sample data from the project. The company will use this information to more accurately determine the gold grade of the narrow vein deposit. Once grade has been determined, a resource calculation will be completed. A bankable feasibility study is expected this year.