OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2010. Severstal Gold N.V. (“Severstal Gold”), a subsidiary of OAO Severstal (“Severstal”) (LSE: SVST; RT CHMF), announced today that it acquired 206 million common shares (“Common Shares”) of Crew Gold Corporation (“Crew Gold”) at a price of NOK 1.7475 (CAD 0.2887) per share on July 6, 2010. The securities acquired represent ownership and control of approximately 9.63% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as at the date hereof.

Following this transaction, Severstal will have ownership and control over 774,524,160 Common Shares, representing approximately 36.22% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as at the date hereof. The purchases were made in private transactions outside of Canada from non-Canadian sellers.

The additional acquisition of Common Shares was effected to increase Severstal’s ownership position.  Severstal is at present a control person of Crew Gold Corporation and exercises influence over Crew Gold through representation on the board of directors. Severstal may in the future increase or decrease its ownership of securities of Crew Gold from time to time depending on such factors as the business and prospects of Crew Gold and future market conditions.

This press release is issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 – The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, which requires a report to be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) containing additional information with respect to the foregoing matters.