West Africa focused Cluff Gold PLC (AIM: CLF; TSX: CFG) said it has now fully commissioned the Kalsaka gold mine in Burkina Faso, noting that this is, however, merely stage one and that it plans to expand the mine’s capacity and resource base.
As at June 30 2009, the operations at Kalsaka have reached the required standard at which successful commissioning has been achieved, it said in a statement.
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.
Chairman and CEO Algy Cluff said: “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.”
The Kalsaka mine is located approximately 150 kilometres 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 2008.
The mine has total measured and indicated resource of 12.1 million tons at 1.6 grams per ton of gold and 3.3 million tons of inferred resource at 1.5g/t Au.
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