Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Tenke Mining Corp (TNK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gofer who wrote (203)	8/9/1998 8:02:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 486

Banro loses gold project in Congo. Financial Post, Saturday August 8 By PAUL BAGNELL, Mining Reporter Shares of Banro Resource Corp. tanked on Friday as investors reacted to news the company's 93% interest in a vast gold exploration project had been revoked by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Banro's stock (BNRS/CDN) fell $2.40 to close at $1.35 on a volume of 142,000 shares. After markets closed Thursday, Banro said the Congo government, headed by former revolutionary leader Laurent Kabila, had dissolved a company set up to explore a series of gold properties. Banro owned 93% of the company -- Soci‚t‚ AurifŠre du Kivu et Maniema Sarl, or Sakima -- and the government held the remaining 7%. Congo also terminated a 25-year mining agreement it signed in February 1997 with Banro and Sakima's predecessor company. In a statement Thursday, Banro said it had not been consulted on either move. On Friday, senior vice-president Arnold Kondrat said Banro has been in contact with President Kabila's office to try to rectify the situation. Meantime, he said the company isn't dealing with the rebels who have taken over some of the country, including the area where Banro's properties are situated. "They realize that they've made an error and they're trying to rectify it." Kondrat said. "We expect to hear some kind of proposal on how they're going to settle this matter." Kabila's government gained control of the country in May 1997, when it overthrew longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Now, the government faces a serious threat from rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda, who are reported to be advancing on the capital of Kinshasa. In promoting its Sakima project over the past year, Banro has often depicted Kabila's government as pro-business and eager to see the country's mineral wealth developed by foreign mining companies. In March, Banro hosted a luncheon in Toronto at which Kabila's mining minister, Frederic Kibassa Maliba, was the guest speaker. Company officials sat beaming while Maliba proclaimed the government's commitment to working hand-in-hand with companies in redrafting the country's mining laws. Now Banro says Kabila's government has "unilaterally expropriated" the Sakima assets, a series of gold zones in the eastern Kivu province. It says the government broke its own rules by canceling the agreement without notice. One zone is on a former mine site and another is in an area heavily worked by local miners using primitive methods. The appeal of the properties, Banro has told investors, is that modern exploration techniques have never been employed. Banro said the Sakima properties could hold as many as eight million ounces of gold. Last year, however, the company withdrew a claim -- published in an investor kit -- that 2.2 million ounces were already "mineable." Banro began a US$20-million exploration program on the sites last fall. canoe.ca