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Banro's wiley Afrikaner Posted: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 [miningmx.com] -- IT JUST might be that in the unassuming, home-grown demeanour of Mike Prinsloo, Canada’s Banro Corp. has chosen a man perfectly suited to coping with life’s logistical difficulties, large and small. Having had clothes and other personal affects seemingly left behind in Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport by the country’s national carrier, the veteran miner calmly set about some late Sunday afternoon shopping in Nairobi. Others might have bought just the bare essentials. But Prinsloo was dressing to befit the role of a casually attired CEO escorting a group of reporters around the sticks of the north-eastern Congo. Before reaching the tills, he ran through the list one last time, dashing back to the shelves to collect mosquito repellent essential to ward off the myriads of insects of Lake Kivu. Such attention to detail can only bode well for Banro Corp’s Twangiza and Namoya projects which Prinsloo must now steer through prefeasibility, due by March 2008. His recall when it comes to the projects is impressive, especially considering he’s been with Banro just six weeks. He rattled off data on costs, production, payback times, gold price scenarios, logistics, infrastructure, ubiquitous artisanal miners, exploration, drilling rigs, core samples and security without stumbling. Chance meeting Simon Village, chairman of Banro, has known Prinsloo for a long time. They met again during talks between BRC Diamonds, in which Banro has a 22% stake, and Diamond Core, where Prinsloo serves as a director. Village asked Prinsloo, who was then CEO of the Gold Fields training academy, if he’d like to join Banro as CEO. Within a couple of weeks, Prinsloo was flown to Bukavu to visit the four exploration projects, been interviewed by Banro management and had been offered the job. He took it with joy following stints running Gold Fields’ South African mines and having achieved what he needed to at the firm’s training academy. “My mind is suddenly working again. There’s a lot to think about with these projects and I’m really enjoying the challenges,” Prinsloo said. It’s not going to be easy. The Twangiza project is relatively close to Bukavu by helicopter, the means by which drill rigs are transported around the astonishingly beautiful steep-sided hills that make up the prospect. There is a well-made dirt road constructed by the Chinese which runs past the narrow access road that wind through the folded emerald-green hills. Through this means, it’s actually possible to bring smaller mills to the site. This fits Prinsloo’s argument that Banro’s projects will be better served by smaller mills rather than a single large one, which if it breaks down, will halt gold output. Banro plans to use Mwanza in Tanzania as its services base. Mwanza services the Tanzanian mining industry and can be supplied via the Dar Es Salaam port. Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
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