"Endeavour has accepted the opportunity to exit its investment in Crew Gold at a significant profit which is a superior alternative to remaining in a minority shareholder position,"

The announcement ends more than 8 months of conjecture about the future of the London Headquartered Crew Gold which is listed in Oslo, Toronto and Frankfurt.

Severstal initially acquired a 15% stake in February, and built this into a 40% stake by July when it agreed with Endeavour on board representation. Following this Severstal purchased a further 9.77% share for $71.2 million, giving it a 50.17% stake prior to this week’s announcement.

Severstal’s Gold Mining division was founded in 2007 and has a current total gold output approximately 533,967 ounces from operating activities in Russia, Kazakhstan and Burkina Faso. The buyout of Crew Gold will see that boosted by a further 179,000 ounces from the LEFA project in Guinea.

Uralsib analyst Dmitry Smolin, believes Severstal will look to consolidate the project prior to an IPO.

“Severstal acquired the major stake earlier in July under an agreement to purchase an entire stake of the Gold Crew later this year. I assume that Severstal planned a consolidation of assets and further diversification of its international assets aiming to establish a new gold giant on the market, prior to an IPO and valuation increase.”