Cluff Gold readies drill bit for 7 new targets at Baomahun

Cluff Gold (LON:CLF, TSX:CFG) has identified 7 new drill targets at its wholly owned Baomahun project  in Sierra Leone.
The targets were identified following an airborne versatile time domain electro-magnetic survey (VTEM Survey). They are all near surface and they are interpreted as having strikes and dips similar to mineralisation in the existing resource area - which currently has a total resource of 2.4 million ounces of gold.
"We are delighted with the results of the VTEM Survey, which confirm our belief in the significant upside at Baomahun,” chairman and chief executive Algy Cluff said.
“We now have in place a defined schedule to both drill-test these new targets whilst also ensuring that the feasibility study remains on track.”
Around 6,000 metres drilling will test the new targets from January onwards, as part of a larger US$12 million work programme which is already underway.
A separate 20,000 metre drilling programme is already underway at Baomahun.
Algy Cluff added: “Following our recent fundraising, the company is now well positioned to take an aggressive approach to its exploration programmes across all three assets."
It raised US$15 million late in October after Macquarie Bank arranged a private placing.
The company’s primary assets are Baomahun, the Kalsaka mine in Burkina Faso and the Angovia mine in the Ivory Coast.
Between them Kalsaka and Angovia produce around 100,000 ounces of gold per year.
Yesterday, Cluff released new exploration drilling results from Kalsaka and unveiled its plans for another 63,000 metres of drilling.
It told investors that it intercepted significant sulphide mineralisation and drill highlights included 15 metres at 7.44 grams per tonne gold from 90m depth.
Cluff is planning a 63,000 metre drilling programme, encompassing diamond core, reverse circulation and rotary air blast drilling, which will commence in Q1 2011, supported by regional geophysics and geochemistry which are underway.
The company’s strategy at Kalsaka is two-fold: to extend the oxide reserves to ensure continuity of the existing heap leach operation, while targeting both the oxide and sulphide mineralisation within the wider Kalsaka exploration permit and neighbouring Yako exploration permit.
The latter may justify the construction of a conventional CIL/CIP plant so as to generate improved metallurgical recoveries with a faster leaching cycle, thereby increasing the economic returns compared to the existing oxide heap leach operation.