British Crew Gold sells Apex stake to Malaysian firm

MANILA, Philippines - British Crew Gold Corp. is bailing out of its investment in Apex Mining Co.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Apex president and chief executive officer Deogracias G. Contreras reported that Crew Gold has decided to sell for $7 million its 211,534,806 class “B” shares in Apex to Mindanao Gold Limited, a company registered in Malaysia.

The sale is conditioned on “certain events taking place and which shall be disclosed to the PSE in due course.”

According to Contreras, “Crew is currently in a financial situation whereby it is unable to invest further capital in Apex and the new effective owners will be able to invest for much needed capital expansion.”

Apex’s main project is the mothballed Maco mine.

Contreras said Crew Gold is also divesting its interest in Teresa Crew Gold Philippines, Inc. and Mapula Creek Gold Corp.

Crew Gold’s interest in Teresa and Mapula have been assigned to Teresa Philippines, Inc. Retired Fund and to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

Mindanao Gold Limited is a special purpose company that was incorporated solely to acquire the assets of Crew.

It has no other plans at this point to acquire any other projects, although Contreras acknowledged that Mindanao Gold’s plans may change if Apex is successful and other opportunities present themselves in Mindanao.

Mindanao Gold is wholly-owned by Abracadabra Speculative Ventures, Inc. which is also based in Malaysia.