K92 Mining Inc. Provides Community Relations Update
April 27 2020 - 4:00AM
K92 Mining Inc. (“
K92” or the
“
Company”) (TSX-V:
KNT; OTCQX:
KNTNF) provides the following update on recent
activity with regards to community relations.
Last week, during the State of Emergency related
to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of disaffected youths from the
Bilimoian community blocked the haul road from the process plant to
the Company’s Kainantu Gold Mine, demanding that the access road to
their villages be upgraded. The blockage of the haul road did not
halt production at the process plant but did result in mining
operations being suspended for 48 hours.
The access road in question is located many
kilometres from the mine in Papua New Guinea and its maintenance is
the responsibility of local Government. It is not used by the mine;
however, K92 had already commenced work on maintenance and
upgrading of the road as one of its projects supporting the local
community. In addition, the Provincial Government has also
committed funds to upgrading the village access road. High rainfall
had forced the work to be temporarily suspended and assurances were
provided that work would recommence as soon as the weather
allowed.
Despite these assurances, the youths refused to
leave the haul road, and the police who had been monitoring the
situation therefore moved in and arrested many of the
demonstrators. During this action, one demonstrator was injured and
required hospital treatment.
While the arrests resulted in the blockade being
lifted, there were concerns that the situation could escalate and
as a result, the Company took the decision to temporarily suspend
all operations and remove the majority of the workforce from site
to diffuse the situation.
The situation did not escalate and following the
intervention of the Bilimoian leadership through the Bilimoia
Interim Landowners Association (“BILA”); and of the local member of
parliament, the Hon Johnson Tuke, who is also the Minister for
Mining, the underlying issues were resolved.
Operations are now returning to normal and at
this point the Company does not believe that the incident will have
a material effect on production for the quarter.
The Company notes that the recently announced
easing of domestic travel restrictions under the State of Emergency
should also reduce the impact of the SOE on operational efficiency,
allowing more efficient movement of skilled PNG National employees
to and from site.
The Company, BILA and the Minister for Mining
have committed to working closely together to ensure that there is
no repeat of this type of incident. A major focus will be
completing the outstanding review of the existing Memorandum of
Agreement (“MOA”), which has suffered repeated delays outside of
the control of the Company or BILA, most recently due to the
current State of Emergency declared in response to the COVID-19
pandemic. The MOA underpins the relationship between the Company,
the Community and Government and sets out commitments from the
various parties.
About K92
K92 Mining Inc. is engaged in the production of
gold, copper and silver from the Kora and Kora North deposits of
the Kainantu Gold Mine in the Eastern Highlands province of Papua
New Guinea, as well as exploration and development of mineral
deposits in the immediate vicinity of the mine. The Company
declared commercial production from Kainantu in February 2018 and
is in a strong financial position with US$22 million in cash (as at
December 31, 2019).
The Company commenced an expansion of the mine
based on an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment on the property
which was published in January 2019. K92 is operated by a team of
mining company professionals with extensive international
mine-building and operational experience.
On Behalf of the Company,
John Lewins, Chief Executive Officer and
Director
For further information, please contact David
Medilek, P.Eng., CFA at +1-604-687-7130.
NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION
SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN POLICIES OF THE TSX
VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR
ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
INFORMATION: This news release includes certain “forward-looking
statements” under applicable Canadian securities legislation.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of
estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other
factors which may cause the actual results and future events to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. All statements that address future
plans, activities, events, or developments that the Company
believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are
forward-looking information, including statements regarding the
realization of the preliminary economic analysis for the Kainantu
Project, expectations of future cash flows, the planned plant
expansion, production results, cost of sales, sales of production,
potential expansion of resources and the generation of further
drilling results which may or may not occur. Forward-looking
statements and information contained herein are based on certain
factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the market
price of the Company’s securities, metal prices, exchange rates,
taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration
and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of
financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental
risks, title disputes, failure of plant, equipment or processes to
operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes, claims and
limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining
industry, changes in national and local government regulation of
mining operations in PNG, and regulations and other matters.. There
can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate,
as actual results and future events could differ materially from
those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company
disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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