JUNIOR MINING

Banro to start construction on DRC gold mine following successful capital raising

Banro has completed its previously announced capital raising and says it will use the bulk of the proceeds to start construction at its Twangiza gold project in the DRC

FUNCHAL, MADEIRA - 

Canadian junior gold explorer, Banro Corporation (NYSE, AMEX, TSX: BAA), has closed the issuance and sale of 43,479,000 common shares of the Company at a price of CAD2.30 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD100,001,700 (USD86.6 million) .

The Offering was conducted through a syndicate of underwriters co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and CIBC World Markets Inc. Under the terms of the underwriting agreement, the Company has granted the Underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 6,521,000 common shares of the Company at a price of CDN$2.30 per share up to 30 days from the closing of the Offering.

Banro spokesman Martin Jones told Mineweb in an email that this is big news for Banro and means the company is now able to begin construction of its Twangiza gold project which will be the first world-class, commercial gold mining operation ever in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo - "we hope to complete it in 2011" said Jones.

Twangiza is one of four major prospect areas on the 210 km long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the north eastern DRC. The Twangiza project itself is the most advanced of Banro's four projects, with a growing deposit that currently comprises Measured and Indicated Resources of 110.5 million tonnes containing 5.60 million ounces of gold and additional Inferred Resources of 8.2 million tonnes containing 400,000 ounces. The property is located 45 kilometres south-southwest of Bukavu in South Kivu Province and consists of six Exploitation Permits covering 1,164 square kilometres.

The Company intends to use approximately CDN$75 million of the net proceeds of the share sale for advancing its DRC gold projects.