Crown Resources
Christopher E. Herald
(303) 534-1030
or
Debbie W. Mino
(800) 229-6827
E-mail: dwmino@compassnet.com
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
FOR: CROWN RESOURCES CORP.
TSE SYMBOL: CRO
NASDAQ SYMBOL: CRRS
JANUARY 6, 1999
Crown Resources Gold Project Wins Major Court Victory
DENVER, COLORADO--Crown Resources Corp. today announced that it
won a major victory in U.S. Federal District Court on its Crown
Jewel project in Washington state.
The court affirmed the decision of the U.S. Forest Service on the
adequacy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and
the Record of Decision. The court granted all motions for summary
judgement on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service and Battle Mountain
Gold Company, while denying all motions of the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, consisting of environmental and special interest
groups, alleged that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National
Environmental Policy Act, the Organic Administration Act and
various trust obligations. The Plaintiffs sought declaratory and
injunctive relief from the court in the form of an order directing
the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw the Record of Decision, revise
its analysis in the FEIS, and issue a new Record of Decision based
on the revised FEIS. All these motions were denied.
Christopher E. Herald, President of Crown, stated: "This ruling
represents a major step in the Crown Jewel project moving forward
to production. The decision affirms the adequacy of the project's
environmental review and the measures taken to protect the
environment, and removes the uncertainty of federal environmental
litigation."
The Crown Jewel gold deposit contains approximately 1.6 million
ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.185 ounces of gold per
ton. Battle Mountain Gold Company is earning a 54 percent
interest in the project by providing 100 percent of the funding,
without any repayment from Crown, to place the property into
production at a minimum rate of 3,000 tons per day. Average life
of mine cash costs are estimated at $160 per ounce. Average annual
production rates are forecast at approximately 185,000 ounces of
gold, with Crown retaining a 46 percent interest in this
production.
Crown is a U.S. domiciled gold exploration company with properties
in the U.S. and Mexico and a 57 percent-equity interest in
Solitario Resources Corporation (SLR:Toronto Stock Exchange).
Crown is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the
trading symbol CRRS and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol CRO.
The information set forth above includes "forward-looking"
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and
is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. Factors
that could cause results to differ materially from those projected
in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
the timing of receipt of necessary governmental permits, the
market price of gold, results of current exploration activities
and other risk factors detailed in the Company's Securities and
Exchange Commission filings.
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