Vancouver — Some 1.9 km of underground development work completed by Crew Development (CRU-T) has confirmed the high-grade nature of the Nalunaq gold project in Greenland.
“With a strong understanding of the high-grade gold system at Nalunaq, we are confident that the project will be an important revenue and income earner for Crew,” says John Darch, the company’s CEO.
The work program returned an average grade of 42.6 grams gold per tonne over 1 metre, using a cutoff grade of 3 grams gold and a cut grade of 200 grams. Continuous mineralization was cut over a 400-metre strike length in three adits, at levels 450, 400 and 350 metres above sea levels and in raises driven at regular intervals between the adits.
With its joint-venture partner NunaMinerals, Crew plans to use the results of the program in the final production planning for the deposit. A full feasibility study, including final engineering and plant design, and an environmental impact assessment are expected during 2001. Production could be achieved as soon as late 2002. A 23,000-tonne stockpile of the measured resources from the 2000 program is slated to be used as initial feed during production ramp-up, together with additional ore from underground development in 2001 and 2002.
Crew recently announced a $28.7-million financing aimed at advancing the high-grade deposit. The private placement consists of 25.37 million units priced at $1.13 each. A unit holds one share and half a warrant. A full warrant enables the holder to purchase an additional share at $1.47 for a period of one year.
The Nalunaq deposit is a high-grade, narrow-vein underground gold deposit. It is located 40 km from the village of Nanortalik on the southern tip of Greenland.
In 1999, Crew acquired a half-interest in the project by merging with Mindex, a Norwegian exploration company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Mindex became involved at Nalunaq in 1997. Up to the end of 1999, a total of US$8.3 million was 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 was funding the project on a 50-50 basis until last year.
Nalunaq is a gold-bearing quartz vein and calc-silicate altered shear system. It 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 attributable 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 totalled 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 from 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.
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