Continental Gold LTD.

An advanced-stage exploration company, Continental Gold Ltd. operates on the principle that grade is king. That is why it has worked hard to develop a portfolio of mostly high-grade gold projects in Colombia’s mineral-prolific regions.

“Our properties were previously held by our board chairman, Robert Allen, who came to Colombia in the late 1980s when everyone was fleeing left and right because of the security situation,” President and COO Mark Moseley-Williams says. “He saw an opportunity to acquire mining and exploration licenses. He decided to put together his best properties into a privately held company, with an objective of making it public over time. We went public in April 2010, and it has been a huge success story with some successful properties.”

By exploring for and developing precious metals deposits in Colombia, the company plans to create substantial value in the coming years. Continental’s goal is to be the first modern-day gold producer in Colombia. The prospects for success are sound, thanks to its management team’s 40 years of combined Colombian operational experience and proven track record of identifying, funding and developing various gold projects in Latin America.

The company has an extensive portfolio of Colombian gold projects. Its most advanced project is Buriticá, a multimillion-ounce gold, silver and zinc deposit. Buriticá is 100 percent owned by Continental. It is a 28,903-hectare project about 75 kilometers northwest of Medellín in Colombia’s Antioquia Department.

“We look for high-grade gold deposits,” Moseley-Williams says. “When you have high-grade gold, you are much more prepared to deal with market cycles. Eventually, we expect to generate 1,000 tons per day and ramp up from there. We don’t expect gold prices to drop significantly lower over the next few years; if anything, they will go up. We feel that when we move into full-scale production in 2015, there will be strong metals prices that will help Continental Gold grow over the next decade as other projects move into production and exploration defines the resources.”

In addition to Buriticá, Continental’s Berlin and Dominical gold projects are at the drill-ready stage. Like Buriticá, the Berlin gold project is 100 percent owned by Continental. It is a 26,588-hectare project located also in Antioquia Department, about 90 kilometers north of Medellín. As for Dominical, it, too, is 100 percent Continental-owned, but the 24,327-hectare project is roughly 50 kilometers southwest of Popayan in southwestern Colombia’s Cauca Department.

The company also is involved in a joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti Limited on the Dojura gold and copper project. Dojura includes seven concession contracts of about 44,893 hectares located 30 kilometers southeast of Quibdó in Choco Department. Although Dojura doesn’t fit perfectly into Continental’s high-grade gold objective, the company still feels it has a lot of potential as a joint venture.

“A key differentiator for us is the fact that we are not a single-project company,” Moseley-Williams says. “That is one of the things that sets us apart. We are making sure all key positions are filled, because once you start launching big engineering operations, you need people internally to lead the project and make sure engineering operations are properly aligned.”

This year, the company’s overall budget stands at $58 million, and about $25 million is devoted to exploration. During the second half of this year, Continental plans to go ahead with underground development at Buriticá to prepare the mine for production.

“There are several kilometers of development to be done, and we are in the permitting stage,” Moseley-Williams says. “We’ve hired the key personnel on the engineering side, and we’ll decide what equipment we need to bring in and the suppliers we need to go with as we define and finalize our mining methods and equipment requirements.”

Much Improved
Looking down the road, Continental knows there is still some maturing that must take place in Colombia in terms of security and legislation. However, Moseley-Williams says the country is evolving into a great and stable place with much improved security and infrastructure.

Key challenges remain, such as the fact that there hasn’t been a new mine opened in Colombia in many years. That means there is a lack of domestic personnel available for modern mining, so Continental must look abroad to fill in the blanks. Fortunately, countries like Peru, Mexico and Chile have strong mining traditions and qualified people available.

“There is a lot of highly specialized technical expertise out there, so we will bring in people from outside the country as we also work with the excellent professionals in Colombia and train them up to world standards,” Moseley-Williams says.

Moseley-Williams says as Continental pushes forward with the development of its first mine, it will open doors for more opportunities. Whatever it does, the company intends to exhibit corporate responsibility in all of its activities.

“We have a strong community relations program in Buriticá,” Moseley-Williams says. “The community is on board with us because they know we will do things right.” EMI