NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
FOR: CROWN RESOURCES CORP.
TSE SYMBOL: CRO
NASDAQ SYMBOL: CRRS
FEBRUARY 18, 1999
Crown Jewel Gold Project Wins Another Court Victory
DENVER, COLORADO--Crown Resources Corp. today announced that the
Crown Jewel gold project received favorable rulings concerning
water rights before Washington state's Pollution Control Hearings
Board ("PCHB").
The PCHB ruled in favor of the Department of Ecology ("DOE") and
Battle Mountain Gold Company on eight legal issues raised by
special interest groups challenging the project's water rights.
The issues relate to whether DOE's approval of the project's water
rights and streamflow mitigation plan was consistent with the
water code. Taking into account these most recent rulings, the
project has prevailed on all rulings made by the PCHB, with over
30 of the 47 issues raised in appeals having been decided to date.
Rulings on the remaining issues, and a final ruling on the appeal
of the project's water rights, are expected this fall.
Christopher E. Herald, President of Crown, stated, "This decision
is consistent with recent rulings in federal, state and county
courts which have all been favorable to the project. It
represents another step in the Crown Jewel mine moving forward to
production. Once again the adequacy of the project's
environmental review and the measures taken to protect the
environment have been affirmed."
The Crown Jewel gold deposit contains approximately 1.6 million
ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.188 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
results of judicial proceedings, the market price of gold, results
of current exploration activities and other risk factors.
-30- |
