19 Jun 2008 09:55
19 June 2008 AIM: CLF
Cluff Gold Plc (the "Company")
AGM Statement
At the Company's AGM, to be held today at 10.00am at the offices of Maclay Murray & Spens, 1 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AB, the Chairman and Chief Executive Mr J G Cluff will be making the following statement:
"Let me deal with our three operations in the following order: Angovia (Cote D'Ivoire), Kalsaka (Burkina Faso) and Baumahun (Sierra Leone).
The Angovia mine has now been on production since March and is expected to be fully commissioned next month. Production start up was slightly behind schedule largely due to the late delivery of equipment. We have so far produced 2,400 ounces of gold and I estimate our production by the year end to be 20,000 ounces and for 2009 to be over 40,000 ounces.
The country, preoccupied with the election planned for November, is in a stable condition and, in our opinion, there exists evidence of increased commercial activity. We believe that the fact that we remained steadfast as investors in the country during their difficult times is now bringing us the reward of production and we believe our loyalty has not been lost on the country's establishment.
Turning to Burkina Faso, we expect the first gold pour to occur in August and thereafter we expect to be producing gold at an annual rate of over 60,000 ounces. Again, this start up has been slightly delayed due to the difficulties of shipping equipment into the country.
I should like to emphasise the fact that we will have brought these two mines onto production at a construction cost of under $40 million. To achieve 100,000+ ounces of production at such a low cost is, in my opinion, no mean achievement in the perfervid atmosphere which obtains in the mining industry. Politically Burkina Faso remains stable following elections in which the ruling party was re-elected and we believe that Government policy is well disposed to advancing the mining sector.
Turning now to Sierra Leone, where the technical director and I visited last month, we are making solid progress. We expect to be in a position to release an interim resource update for this project shortly.
We expect our Pre-Feasibility study to be completed by the end of this year with the majority of 2009 being concerned with the preparation of the bankable Feasibility study which is necessary to secure the project finance. As announced on 27 February 2008 I am pleased to affirm that we have completed a conditional agreement to acquire Winston Mines' interest in Baomahun. Once the agreement completes, we will then hold 100% of this project. Mr Ronald Winston, I am pleased to say, has also accepted our invitation to join our Board subject to all the acquisition conditions being met.
I met the President of Sierra Leone in Freetown last month and myself and my colleagues were accorded a warm welcome. The President, a businessman, was recently elected on a mandate of "getting things done". Our gold project is by the far the largest in the country and we believe the progress we have made is complementary to the President's policy.
Finally, in conclusion, I note that never in my commercial career can I recall such rampant cost inflation. In these circumstances I believe we have done creditably to have added so much value; with the expectation of the development, during the next two years, of a major mine in Sierra Leone with a productive capacity of over 200,000 ounces."
J G Cluff
Chairman and Chief Executive
19 June 2008
For further information, please contact:
| Cluff Gold plc J.G. Cluff Tel: +44 (0) 20 7340 9790 | Farmstreet Media Simon Robinson Tel 07887 985671 |
| WH Ireland Limited David Youngman/ Katy Mitchell Tel: +44 (0) 161 832 2174 | |