Quarterly Operations and Exploration Update - December 2013 Quarter 20 January 2014

Trojan production ramp up delivers positive results

Mwana Africa PLC is pleased to provide an update on operations and exploration activity for the quarter ending 31stDecember 2013. 

Freda Rebecca
  • 13,072 ozs of gold production from Freda Rebecca during the quarter, representing a decrease of 25% over the previous quarter.
  • Drop in production is attributable to a mill being unavailable temporarily due to engineering down time and shutdowns. These were undertaken to make modifications which the Company anticipates will lead to an improvement in throughput. Production was also impacted by a drop in head grade due to the temporary cessation of mining at its open pit operations.
  • The Company has noted improved throughput following the modifications to the mill and does not anticipate that the issues with head grade will continue into the fourth quarter.
  • Despite a lower head grade, plant recoveries benefitted from the availability of all three leach tanks resulting in improved leaching efficiencies with an increase to 84.9% from 83.6% in the last quarter.
  • All in sustaining costs (C3) increased by 22.6% from $1,053/oz to 1,291/oz.   This was mainly as a result of lower gold production in the quarter.
  • Pilot Plant for tailings retreatment is complete and has entered the commissioning phase.
Bindura Nickel Corporation
  • Nickel in concentrate sales of 2,651 tonnes from Trojan, representing an increase of over 76% compared to the previous quarter.
  • All-in sustaining costs (C3) cash costs increased from $10,390/tto $11,819/t. This was as a result of the continued production ramp up and the commencement of the shaft re-deepening.
  • Quarterly revenue was 74% higher at $24.5 million as a result of higher sales volumes. 
Klipspringer Diamond Mine
  • Following the agreement signed between the Klipspringer JV and Greenhurst Mining and Exploration (Pty) Ltd to retreat the Marsfontein slimes dam at the Klipspringer Mine, Mwana are pleased to report that mining and treatment operations started on 7 October 2013.
  • To date the slimes retreatment programme has produced 6,114 carats at an average price $22.75 per carat. Despite lower than anticipated throughputs during commissioning, the fine diamonds recovered demonstrate the feasibility of the initiative.
  • The plant is currently operating on three shifts per day and steady state production of 22,560 tons per month is planned from February 2014 onwards. 
Kalaa Mpinga, CEO of Mwana, commented:

"Operationally this has been a mixed quarter for the company. We are very pleased with the progress at Trojan and this demonstrates the robustness of the asset. Freda Rebecca, however, had a difficult quarter due to reduced mill availabilities. The proceeds from diamond sales will contribute to the care and maintenance costs at Klipspringer. Management time will continue to be focused on operational improvements and delivery of the ongoing cost-cutting exercise during Q4."

Download Mwana Africa's Operations and exploration update for the quarter ended December 2013. (PDF - 2.81MB)

For further information contact:

Mwana Africa PLC
Kalaa Mpinga, CEO
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7654 5580

Nominated Adviser and Broker
Peel Hunt LLP
Matthew Armitt / Ross Allister
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Public & Investor Relations
Tavistock Communications
Ed Portman / Simon Hudson / Mike Bartlett
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

About Mwana Africa PLC

Mwana Africa PLC is a pan-African, multi-commodity mining and development company. Mwana's principal operations and exploration activities cover gold, nickel, copper and diamonds in Zimbabwe, the DRC and South Africa.

Mwana's Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe, having restarted operations in 2009, produced 65,350 ozs of gold in the 12 months to March 2013.

In October 2013, Mwana announced that the gold mineral resource at its Zani Kodo project in Democratic Republic of Congo had increased to 2.975 million ounces.

In February 2013, Mwana announced it had signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Zhejiang Hailiang Company Limited to jointly explore some of its copper license areas in the Katanga Province of the DRC.

The restart of operations at The Trojan Nickel Mine (owned by Mwana's Zimbabwe subsidiary Bindura Nickel Corporation ("BNC")) followed four years during which all of the BNC assets were on care and maintenance. In September 2012, BNC carried out a restructuring and recapitalisation involving US$23m being invested into BNC which has allowed it to restart the Trojan mine. First sale of concentrate to Glencore took place in April 2013.

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