Banro reports progress at Twangiza

Banro Corp has announced that the construction of its wholly-owned Twangiza Phase 1 gold project in South Kivu Province, DRC, is proceeding on schedule with gold production expected to begin in the December quarter of this year.

'Cold commissioning' - a test run of fluids through the ore processing plant - has now commenced with mechanical commissioning that will proceed to 'hot commissioning' - a test run of low grade ore material through the plant - by mid-September.

Simon Village, Banro’s CEO commented: "We are fast approaching a significant milestone for both Banro and South Kivu province in the DRC. Since Banro's Board made the decision to proceed with development of Twangiza in 2009, we have worked diligently to a fast schedule which has allowed our company to pour its first gold in two years, and with weeks to go, we remain on schedule.

“This event will also signal a tremendous achievement for the South Kivu province as it will be the first new commercial gold mine in the DRC for over half a century - and a testament to the co-operation with the community, government and industry which was necessary for this undertaking."

Activation of the 1.3Mt/y gold production facility follows 24 months of strict deadlines which have been systematically achieved starting with the plant site and construction camp civil excavation works that were completed two months ahead of schedule. The plant capacity is planned to be increased to 1.7Mt/y by mid-2012.

Plant civil construction works are virtually complete while the structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping are around 93% complete.

The diesel-powered Aggreko power plant with a design capacity of 7MW is 90% complete and a source of raw water for the processing plant has been secured.

The construction of the tailings management facility is on schedule. Some 350,000t of earth was excavated in the construction of the foundation for the tailings dam wall.

The mine is on schedule to ramp up to full production of around 10,000oz of gold per month early in 2012.