Year-End Operations Update

RNS Number : 9384J

Contango Holdings PLC

29 December 2020

 

Contango Holdings Plc / Index: LSE / Epic: CGO / Sector: Natural Resources

29 December 2020

Contango Holdings Plc

('Contango' or the 'Company')

Year-End Operations Update

The Company is pleased to provide a brief update on operations at its Lubu Coking Coal Project ("Lubu") in Zimbabwe and the Garalo Gold Project ("Garalo") in Mali.

Lubu, Zimbabwe

The Binga Camp, the base of operations for the first phase of development of Lubu, has been successfully rehabilitated over the last month, including upgrades to access.

The Company can advise it consequently expects to be able to open the pit next month. This will be a material event for Contango, helping finalise ongoing offtake discussions for coking coal.  In addition, several multi-national companies have requested significant bulk samples, which will also provide short-term revenue to the Company, to enable them to assess the viability of constructing coke plants at Lubu.  The manufacture of coke at Lubu would command a significantly higher price than the Company's coking coal, which is already considered to be highly economic.

A comprehensive update on Lubu is expected to be provided next month once the pit is open.

Garalo, Mali

Following the release of an Independent Technical Report (the "Report") on Garalo, which saw the potential gold resource increase by +460% to 1.8Moz, both in-house and external geologists have continued with further assessment of the deposit. Whilst this has been focused principally on the identified resource within the Report, additional works have also been undertaken on some of the potential targets identified in the Report, outside of the potential resource envelope, with some highly encouraging results.

This work is on-going and the Company will provide a further update next month.

Carl Esprey, Executive Director of Contango Holdings, said: "I am delighted with the progress we have made this year, particularly during the second half.  We now have two projects that are expected to provide production and healthy margins within a year. Both have significant scalability and longevity offering further upside.

"Our recent capital raises, coupled with expected non-equity financing solutions such as royalty streams and offtake financing, have given us the wherewithal to bring these two assets into production and provide significant cashflows, in turn enabling both returns of capital to shareholders and also the further expansion and development of our projects.

"I look forward to 2021 with great optimism and confidence and thank our shareholders for their continued support in what has been a difficult and unprecedented year across the world."

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.contango-holdings-plc.co.uk or contact:

Contango Holdings plc Chief Executive Officer Carl Esprey	E: [e-mail]
Brandon Hill Capital Limited Financial Adviser & Broker Jonathan Evans	T: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd Financial PR & Investor Relations Susie Geliher / Cosima Akerman	T: [phone]

 

END

 

 

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