NEW EXPLORER: Cluff Gold
Cluff Mining (CLU in London) changed its name to Ridge Mining and spun off its West African gold projects to Algy Cluff's new company Cluff Gold, who then added diamond merchant Ronald Winston's Sierra Leone gold property (see story below). Cluff Gold apparently has gold properties in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Ghana. I can find no company web-page. The stock was to be listed on the London AIM exchange "in spring" but so far, there's no listing on the exchange website. It may appear soon.
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Date : May 10, 2004
Cluff Gold Does Deal With Winston Mines Prior To Listing On AIM.
First it was Cluff Oil, then Cluff Resources, then Cluff Mining and now Cluff Gold. The four ages of Algy Cluff and the last of these is now under way. In no way is this meant to infer that it is downhill from now on. Far from it. When Algy Cluff presented at our 1st Minesite Mining Forum in June 2001 his youngest son had just been borne so he cannot retire yet awhile. At one time he may have contemplated it as all was not sweetness and light at Cluff Mining after Terence Wilkinson focused it on platinum group metal exploration, but Algy has brightened up considerably at the thought of returning to gold.
Apparently he has known Ronald Winston for some years so it is no fluke that as soon as the ink dried on the completion statement of the deal whereby Aber Diamonds acquired control of Harry Winston Inc, the legendary jeweller to the stars, Ron and Algy announced that they were getting together at Cluff Gold. Ronald Winston, it should be explained, is the son of Harry and he has been chairman of the jewellery retail chain since his father died in 1978.. His heart, however, was more in exploring for gold and diamonds than selling them over the counter. In the late 1980s he was involved in exploration in West Africa and it was then that he came across the Baomahun gold project in Sierra Leone and it is this that is being contributed to the new venture.
The actual deal is that Cluff Gold Limited, a private company which hopes to list on AIM in June through Numis Securities, is going to earn a 60 per cent interest in Baomahun by funding the project to the completion of a full feasibility, or by spending a maximum of US$5 million in the attempt. Once Cluff Gold has earned its 60 per cent Winston Mines will be able to convert the value of its 40 per cent interest into shares in Cluff Gold which will have been listed for some time by then In the meantime Ron will become a non-executive director of Cluff Gold and will presumably be able to acquire some shares prior to the listing. It is a deal he has been seeking for some time and towards the end of last year was in talks with a Canadian listed company called Caldera Resources which had exploration assets in Australia.
The Boamahun project is situated in the Kangari Hills 180 kms east of Freetown and Winston funded some exploration work on its until 1995 when Sierra Leone become to dangerous. Before that the Geological Survey of Sierra Leone and previous permit holders identified a number of target areas in the Eastern, Central and Western Zones. Between 1987 the Winston team carried out geological mapping g as well as sampinng the oxidised ore on the Eastern zone where artisan miners were working. They also worked on pre-feeasibility options and drove an all-weather road to the site.
In the early 1990s a pilot heap leach was operating and an adit was driven under the mineralisation in the Eastern Zone. Some drilling and metallurgical testwork was also carried out. Just before the security situation became impossible Winston also got hold of a further prospect called Victoria, which lay to the north.It was not until 2002 that Winston could re-enter the site and since then it has been reassessing the situation and planning a programme of drilling and trenching to produce a resource estimate. The adit may also be extended to facilitate underground drilling and metallurgical testwork will take place. A lot more artisan workings appeared during the force majeure and this may be of great assistance.
Cluff’s contribution to the new company will be the gold assets in Cluff Mining. Of which the most advanced is the Kalsaka gold project in Burkina Faso. In July 2002 a full feasibility was commissioned involving a heap leach capable of processing 1.2 million tonnes of ore/year. The total resource at the time was estimated at 11.5 million tonnes grading an average 1.5 g/t gold to give 560,000 ozs gold. It was at this stage that Cluff Mining went wholly for platinum group metals as its shareholders had contributed funds on the basis that this was the new focus. The Kalsaka project has not disappeared , however, and the new partners start with the possibility of early cash flow.
Other contributions from Cluff include the Maligreen gold miner in Zimbabwe where mining of oxide ore ceased as scheduled in mid 2002 although residual spraying of the heap leach pad continued into the second half of 2002. The mine is a 50:50 joint venture with local operator Pan African Mining. The joint venture partners are currently examining the potential viability of treating the underlying sulphide resource. Also there are the Yako Arbole prospect in Burkina Faso, Seripe in Ghana and Niokolo in Senegal.. Cluff Gold will have an interesting prospectus.
