Crew Gold Corporation (Crew) of the United Kingdom is selling its 72.8 percent stake in Apex Mining Co., Inc. to a Malaysia-based company for a total of $7 million.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Apex said Crew Gold has signed an agreement to sell its interest in Apex and all its related assets to a private company with headquarters in Malaysia.

The Agreement is subject to government regulatory approvals and is expected to be complete within approximately 90 days.

The agreement calls for a total cash payments of $1 million upon signing of the agreement, $5 million upon completion, and a final $1 million when Philippine regulatory approvals are obtained.

Crew Gold also said that this agreement is combined with the previously announced sale of Nalunaq Project of Crew in Greenland and the pending completion of the sale of the Nugget Pond in Canada.

This allows Crew’s scaled down management team to concentrate all efforts on the LEFA project in Guinea which is expected to complete its ramp up by approximately the end of 2009.

Apex had cut 150 workers from its Maco gold mine in Mindanao early this year to save money and “to sustain the economic viability of the mine project” amid depressed metal prices.

About 150 rank and file managers and staff have been laid off, including all but two specialized foreign technicians, Apex said.

The firm had hired 1,955 people for the project, which had just started production. At full capacity, the project would have an annual output of 50,000 ounces (of gold).

Apex said “the project has barely started productive operations while development costs remain a financial burden.”

The firm added that “it is anticipated that the project will realize earnings once its commercial production is in full swing with high precious metal prices being forecast to prevail during the periods to come.”