25th Sep 2008 12:47
CLUFF GOLD PLC
("Cluff Gold" or the "Company")
US$10 million Standby Loan Facility
Cluff Gold, the West African focused gold miner, is pleased to announce the execution of a US$10 million standby loan facility with RMB Australia Holdings Limited ("RMB Australia") as financier and RMB Resources, a division of FirstRand (U.K.) Limited, as agent and arranger (the "Loan"). The Loan, which is secured, is repayable by 31st August 2009 and is made up of two tranches; an initial tranche of US$6.5 million (the "Initial Tranche") for funding corporate, development and working capital costs and a further tranche of US$3.5 million (the "Further Tranche") which, if required, will be subject to additional conditions precedent.
Both the Initial Tranche and the Further Tranche can be drawn down in such smaller tranches, as are required by Cluff.
Interest on the Loan is at 5% per annum above US LIBOR with commitment fees of 1.75% per annum on amounts undrawn. An arrangement fee of US$400,000 is payable to RMB Resources on signature.
An initial option over 500,000 ordinary shares of the Company has been granted to RMB Australia at an exercise price of 36.9 pence per share (representing the volume weighted average price for the Company's shares for the 20 trading day period prior to signature plus a 5% premium). RMB Australia will also be granted further options at the same exercise price over an additional 100,000 shares for each tranche of US$1 million drawn down under the Loan, up to a maximum of 1.5 million shares in total (including the initial grant of options). These options can be exercised at any time for a period of 3 years from the date of grant.
Chairman and Chief Executive, Algy Cluff commented today "I am very pleased to have secured this standby facility which can be used to fund working capital needs at our two gold mines - Angovia in Cote d'Ivoire and Kalsaka in Burkina Faso, which are both in their commissioning phase. In the current febrile economic climate, it is particularly important to ensure that the Company is well protected should any engineering problems occur during this commissioning phase and I believe that we have achieved security with this facility".
For further enquiries please contact:
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Cluff Gold plc J.G. Cluff / Douglas Chikohora Chairman / Technical Director Tel: +44 (0) 20 7340 9790 |
WH Ireland Limited David Youngman / Katy Mitchell Tel: +44 (0) 161 832 2174 |
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Farm Street Media Simon Robinson Tel: +44 (0) 7887 985671 |
Notes to Editors:
About Cluff Gold plc
Cluff Gold plc is focused on the identification, acquisition,development and production of gold deposits in West Africa that are amenable to open-pit mining and low cost production techniques.The Company has made significant progress since its admission to AIM in December 2004, increasing gold resources across its projects, expanding its project portfolio and broadening the investor base to an increasingly international audience.
Mt. Yaoure, Cote d'Ivoire
The Mt. Yaoure permit is located 40km northwest of Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Cote d'Ivoire, and covers a surface area of 417km2 including a 50 km2 mining permit. The licence area includes the Angovia gold mine which operated between 1998 and 2003. The mine reportedly produced over 180,000 ounces of gold during this period by heap leaching some 2 million tonnes of oxide material.
The infrastructure in the area is good and includes a hydroelectric dam six kilometres from the Angovia mine site. A measured and indicated JORC compliant resource of 451,000 ounces and an inferred JORC compliant resource of 44,000 ounces has so far been delineated. On 19th March, 2008, the Company announced the commencement of gold production at Angovia at an annualized rate of 40,000 ounces of gold by the end of this year.
Kalsaka, Burkina Faso
Kalsaka is located approximately 150km north west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. A measured and indicated JORC compliant resource of 634,000 ounces and inferred JORC compliant resource of 157,000 ounces has been delineated so far. The resource has been demonstrated, by a feasibility study, to be technically amenable to open-pit mining and processing via heap leaching. Water, environmental and mining permits for the project have been granted. The mining permit is valid for twenty years.
On 27 August, 2008 the Company announced the commissioning of the dry plant and confirmed that production is expected to reach 60,000 ounces of gold on an annualised production rate by the end of this year.
BAOMAHUN, SIERRA LEONE
The Baomahun Gold Project covers an area of about 137 km2 and is located about 180 kilometres east of Freetown, in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. The geological setting is similar to the Lake Victoria goldfields in Tanzania.
The Baomahun licence area covers more than 12 kilometres of prospective strike along the Kangari Hills which is composed of Archaean greenstone belt terrain consisting of banded iron formation (BIF) Gold mineralisation in the drilled areas is intimately associated with the BIF and other lithologies in close proximity to the BIF. Accordingly, future exploration and drilling will continue to use the BIF as a marker horizon for auriferous zones along the belt.
A measured and indicated JORC compliant mineral resource of 867,000 ounces of gold (8,933,000 tonnes grading 2.9 g/t Au) and inferred JORC compliant mineral resource of 486,000 ounces of gold (5,083,000 tonnes grading 3.0 g/t Au). A total JORC compliant mineral resource (measured, indicated and inferred) of 1,353,000 ounces of gold (14,016,000 tonnes grading 3.0 g/t Au) has so far been delineated.
On 17 July 2008, the Company announced that the Government of Sierra Leone had granted Baomahun Gold Limited, a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the Company, a Mining Lease for 25 years over an area of 59.85sq kilometres.
Cluff Gold announced on 4 August 2008 that it had acquired the outstanding 40 per cent interest in the project for US$21.8 million which was satisfied by the issue of 12,390,909 ordinary shares in the Company and now owns 100% of the gold project.
A Full Technical Glossary can be found on the company website at:
http://www.cluffgold.com/pages/projects_glossary.asp
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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