Banro Corporation ("Banro" or the "Company") wishes to provide a brief overview of progress at its Twangiza and Namoya mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC").
Namoya Update
"The quality of the ore at Namoya is not in question. The metallurgy and grade are as expected," commented Banro board chairman Richard Brissenden. "The excess volume of fine material in the part of the ore body currently being mined is proving to be the challenge. The operations team on the ground proceeded through the early commissioning phase, as they would for any mine at this stage, adjusting solutions, volumes and rates. During the early weeks of commissioning, they believed they could make the necessary and conventional adjustments to the process to accommodate the higher than anticipated volume of fines - this was part of the natural course of commissioning."
More recently, the operations team determined that modifications would need to be made to the wet circuit to accommodate the current fines content, which is larger than anticipated and beyond the capacity of some elements of the processing plant. While the adjustments will cause some delay in reaching peak production, the mine can continue to produce gold from the gravity circuit (which also recovers gold from the fines) and the heap leach process, which is designed for the coarser material. The projected gold production is as outlined in the July 9, 2014 press release.
Banro has engaged the services of Kappes Cassiday and Associates (KCA), a firm which specializes in the development, engineering and implementation of extractive metallurgical processes for the mining industry. KCA will be on site at Namoya early next week to assess the current plant and assist in the evaluation and development of options. Namoya will continue production during this evaluation process.
Twangiza
The tonnage throughput at the Twangiza mine is now in a range consistent with expectations following the plant adjustments made in 2013 and completed earlier this year and the advent of the current drier season. "We are very pleased with the Twangiza operation," commented Brissenden. "Daily throughput tonnage is being maintained at higher, more acceptable levels than prior periods and recoveries have stabilized. We are now seeing the positive effects of the plant enhancements made in the past several quarters and will continue to 'push' components of the plant to further optimize production."
Banro will report Q2 2014 financials in mid-August.
Qualified Person
Daniel K. Bansah, Head of Projects and Operations and a "qualified person" (as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101), has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.
Banro Corporation is a Canadian gold mining company focused on production from the Twangiza mine, which began commercial production September 1, 2012, and completion of its second gold mine at Namoya located approximately 200 kilometres southwest of the Twangiza gold mine. The Company's longer term objectives include the development of two additional major, wholly-owned gold projects, Lugushwa and Kamituga. The four projects, each of which has a mining license, are located along the 210 kilometre long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Led by a proven management team with extensive gold and African experience, the initial focus of the Company is on the mining of oxide material, which has a low capital intensity to develop but also attracts a lower technical and financial risk to the Company. All business activities are followed in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
For further information, please visit our website at www.banro.com, or follow the Company on Twitter @banrocorp.
Source: http://www.banro.com