Amara Mining Regulatory News (AMA)

19 May 2005 12:04

Cluff Gold PLC19 May 2005 19th May 2005 AIM: CLF Result of Annual General Meeting Cluff Gold Plc ("Cluff Gold" or "the Company") announces today that allresolutions proposed at the Company's AGM were duly passed. Mr J G Cluff's speech from the AGM is detailed below: Ladies & Gentlemen, This is our first AGM since the IPO last December. For the record this companywas founded the previous December (2003) when £1million was raised by an issueof stock at 20p. There was a further smaller fund raising in July 2004 at 55pfollowed by the IPO which raised £6.5million also at 55p. The Company wasindependently valued at that time by SRK at 100p. Our strategy is simple - to become a West African gold producer as soon as ispracticable. I have previously said that we hope to have a productive capacitywithin three years of 300,000 ounces. It is our present intention that ourproduction will build up sequentially, firstly from the Angovia Mine in theIvory Coast, secondly, from the Kalsaka deposit in Burkina Faso and thirdly fromthe Baomahun discovery in Sierra Leone. Let me address them in turn. Firstly Angovia. We and our consultants, SRK andGBM, together with our bankers, Rand Merchant Bank are fully occupied with ourcampaign to redevelop this mine. Our target is to have a mine producing up to40,000 ounces of gold per annum at an approximate cost of $220 per ounce and tobe in production within nine to twelve months of funding, subject only to apossible requirement for a small confirmatory drilling programme. The cost ofthis development is estimated to be between $4 and 5 million. At today's goldprice this would yield an operating profit of between $7 and 8 million perannum. Had our share price been at a premium to the issue price we would mostlikely have arranged a small placing to secure these funds which I must explainare in addition to the working capital statement made at the time of the IPO.We cannot therefore apply any of our existing funds to Angovia. Our bankers arevery supportive of this venture pending a visit in the near future to the site.It is therefore our plan that Angovia be developed with bank finance. We expectthe funds borrowed to be repaid within the first year of production should theapproximate figures which I have given continue to obtain. We are simultaneously addressing the important objective of bringing the Kalsakadeposit in Burkina Faso into production as soon as possible. This mine willinitially produce 60,000 ounces of gold per annum at an estimated cost of $235per ounce. We would hope that we shall in due course raise that production tonearer 100,000 ounces per annum - one of the positive features of Kalsaka beingthe excellent potential for adding additional reserves. A site project managerhas already been appointed and we were able to announce at a joint pressconference in Paris three weeks ago with the Burkina Minister of Mines that wehave now initiated the development phase with basic work such as site clearance.This is about to commence. As with Angovia we are working with the same team ofconsultants and bankers to finalise the numbers. It is estimated that the totaldevelopment cost will be $18 million. Should this venture proceed as hoped wewould expect production to start up by September 2006. In Sierra Leone we are engaged in drilling the Baomahun discovery. All of theeight holes we have so far drilled have intersected gold mineralization. We arelooking to speed up this drilling programme in order to complete a further 20holes planned for as soon as possible and certainly before the rains begin inearnest in June/July. We shall make a press release detailing the drillingresults after the assay results are to hand from hole 10. This will completethe drilling programme for the so-called Eastern Zone. Further announcementswill be made after the drilling has finished at the central and western zones. Otherwise we are engaged in negotiations with two parties which may lead to theacquisition of ground in Mali: we have almost finalised the terms of ouragreement with the Senegalese Government regarding the Niokolo permit; we aremaintaining our licence in Ghana in good standing and finally in Zimbabwe we areawaiting - within two weeks - the completion by our partners, Pan AfricanMining, of a scoping study. This to being undertaken to define the viability ofbringing the Mali Green deposit into production at a rate of between 25,000 and30,000 ounces per annum. We hold a 50% interest. We believe that developmentcosts will be in the region of $4 million and we shall only accede to adevelopment go ahead if all these costs can be funded in Zimbabwe which shouldarguably be possible if second hand equipment is utilised. In summary I hope you will agree with me that in the four months since our IPOwe have made progress at all of our projects. London has seen a multitude ofjunior companies listing here recently, all drawing from a diminishingreservoir of available capital which renders the discipline of obtaining rapidcash flow - and accordingly financial independence - imperative. I am very pleased that Edward Haslam joins our board today. Previously theChief Executive of Lonmin he brings much wisdom and experience of mining and ofAfrica to our Board. Francis Maude was also to have been elected this morningbut he has been appointed the Chairman of the Conservative Party which carries acondition that he takes on no new commercial interests. He has accordinglyasked that his appointment be held over. Ends For further information, please contact: Cluff Gold Numis Securities Parkgreen CommunicationsJ.G. Cluff / Douglas Chikohora John Harrison Justine Howarth / Cathy MalinsChairman / Technical Director Tel: 020 7776 1500 Tel: 020 7493 3713Tel: 020 7340 9790 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange