Toronto, ON - (MetalsNews.com, August 23, 2010) - Banro Corporation ("Banro" or the "Company") (NYSE AMEX - "BAA"; TSX - "BAA") announces that the Company has completed the restructuring of its executive management group and has fully staffed the mine development team responsible for constructing the Company's wholly-owned Twangiza "Phase I" gold mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the "DRC").
The restructuring of executive management follows the completion of Mike Prinsloo's three-year tenure as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, during which his mandate was to oversee the transition of the Company from an explorer to a developer and establish a world class project team to complement the Company's strong exploration capabilities. This mandate has now been completed. Mr. Prinsloo will be stepping down as President, C.E.O. and a director of the Company on September 16, 2010.
Banro Chairman Simon Village will serve as interim President and C.E.O., pending the appointment of Mr. Prinsloo's successor.
Gary Chapman, who joined Banro in July 2010 as Project and Mine Manager, takes over responsibility for mine development from Mr. Prinsloo. Mr. Chapman's most recent assignment, before joining Banro, was as Production Manager with Gold Fields, where he managed all production aspects of the successful 6 million tonnes/300,000 ounces per year expansion to the CIL Plant at the 750,000 oz/annum Tarkwa Gold Mine in Ghana.
The Company is also creating a new executive committee consisting of key representatives of the exploration, development and financial management functions. These are: Gary Chapman, Project and Mine Manager, Daniel Bansah, Vice-President of Exploration, Thinus Vorster, Consulting Mechanical and Electrical Engineer, Desiré Sangara, Vice President of Government Relations, Koos Nel, Vice President of Non-Technical Services and Brian Scallan, Vice President, Project & Corporate Finance. Biographies of these key individuals will be available on the Banro website at www.banro.com.
The executive committee will be chaired by Banro Chairman Simon Village and supported closely by Johan Botha, who will continue with the Company in a consulting capacity having successfully concluded the project design and team recruitment.
Construction of the "Phase I" Twangiza gold mine is well underway and the mine is scheduled to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2011 as planned. The civil works have all been completed and the plant, which was purchased in Australia, was refurbished and delivered to Mombasa, Kenya on schedule. The components are currently being delivered by road to the Twangiza site and construction has commenced. Key aspects of the resettlement have been completed and the main pit and river alluvial areas have been cleared of artisanal activity. Many of the former artisanal miners have now been employed by the Company's services network or enrolled into alternative skills development programs funded by the Company and administered jointly by the Banro Foundation and a number of local NGOs. The latter has proved a milestone for the business and has enabled all ground works on the plant, offices, accommodation and open pit preparation to continue at full pace.
The planned relocation of community members from the mine footprint to a new civic area under construction by the Company is also continuing as formally negotiated and agreed with community leaders and Government structures. The resettlement project was implemented after completion of a comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment as part of the Twangiza gold project Feasibility Study.
Mr. Village said: "We are extremely pleased with the progress achieved to date and thank Mike Prinsloo for his contributions to Banro's transition from gold explorer to mine developer. We are also pleased that the Company is now in a position to hand the development baton to a fully-staffed project team headed by Gary Chapman that has a demonstrable track record of building and operating open pit gold projects in Africa."
Banro is a Canadian-based gold exploration and development company focused on the development of four major, wholly-owned gold projects, each with mining licenses, along the 210 kilometre-long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the DRC. Led by a proven management team with extensive gold and African experience, the Company has commenced construction of "Phase I" of its flagship Twangiza project. Banro's strategy is to unlock shareholder value by increasing and developing its significant gold assets in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
For further information, please visit our website at www.banro.com, or contact: Simon Village, Chairman, United Kingdom, Tel: +44 1959 569 237, Arnold T. Kondrat, Executive Vice-President, Toronto, Ontario, or Martin Jones, Vice-President, Corporate Development, Toronto, Ontario, Tel: (416) 366-2221 or 1-800-714-7938.