Cluff Gold plc – Commissioning of the Kalsaka Gold Mine in Burkina Faso
Cluff Gold plc, the West African focused gold mining company announces that, as at 30 June 2009, the operations at the Kalsaka Gold Mine have reached the required standard at which successful commissioning has been achieved.
Gold was first poured at the Kalsaka Gold Mine in October, 2008 and since that time performance has incrementally increased each month.
Total gold production for the first 6 months of 2009 amounted to 26,772 ounces at a cash operating cost of US$595 per ounce (US$632 per ounce including royalty and refining charges). Forecast production for the full year is 60,000 ounces.
“The successful commissioning of the Kalsaka Gold Mine is a direct result of a strong team that has worked diligently to advance this project from development into operations,” said Mr. Algy Cluff, Chairman and CEO of Cluff Gold plc. “However, this is just phase one as it is our intention to increase the capacity of the plant at Kalsaka and to increase our resource base such that the Kalsaka Gold Mine becomes the hub for the development of satellite deposits in this area. With the increased throughput, we believe we will achieve better than our forecast production for the year and lower cash cost per ounce.”
Kalsaka Gold Mine
The Kalsaka Gold Mine is located approximately 150km north west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and contains an oxide gold mineral resource that has already been demonstrated, by a feasibility study, to be technically amenable to open-pit mining and processing via heap leaching. The Company poured the first gold in October of 2008. The projected annualized gold production is 60,000 ounces. The mine has total measured and indicated resource of 12.1 million tones at 1.6 g/t Au and 3.3 million tones of inferred resource at 1.5g/t Au. The ore bodies are amenable to open-pit mining and heap leach processing methods. Cluff has a 78% ownership of the Kalaska Gold Mine, the remaining interest being held by the Company’s local partner, IMAR-B (12%) and the government of Burkina Faso (10% free-carried interest).
