Update

Caracal Gold PLC

13 May 2024

 

13 May 2024

Caracal Gold Plc

('Caracal' or the 'Company')

Update

Caracal Gold Plc, the East African gold producer with over 1,300,000 oz JORC compliant gold resources, is pleased to provide an update following the recommencement of production at the Milling/CIL plant at Kilimapesa for the quarter:

·    Open cast mining continued in pit 3B with a total of 11,400 tonnes mined at an average grade of 1.82 g/t gold (Au) with a strip ratio of ore to waste of 2.7 to 1 for the month of February. 11 610 tonnes mined at an average grade of 1.625 g/t gold (Au) with a strip ratio of ore to waste of 2.9 to 1 for the month of March;

·    The carbon in leach (CIL) plant was recommissioned after the mill relining in January.  Feed into the CIL circuit was 7,350 tonnes for the month of February at an average feed grade of 1.71 g/t.  The gold recovered totalled 9,077 grams. Feed into the CIL circuit was 4 711 tonnes for the month of March at an average feed grade of 1.51 g/t.  The gold recovered totalled 5 008 grams;

·    Availability of the Milling plant during the month of March was impacted by a failure of the Mill Motor which took the milling plant off line from 2 March to 9 March.  Additional challenges with record high rainfall in the Masai Mara area severely impacted power availability during the month;

·    Optimization work in the carbon in leach (CIL) continued; and

·    The heap leach (CIS) plant in March generated 1 854 grams of gold recovered onto carbon.

Funding and Corporate

·    The Company announced on 26 March that it had raised £780,000 by way of a Subscription, through the issue of 260,000,000 new Ordinary Shares of £0.001 in the Company at a price of £0.003 per Subscription Share;

·    The production ramp up from the Kilimapesa Mine has been impacted by various factors and with operations running intermittently the Company's working capital position is constrained. The Company is dependent on receipt of further funding to continue operations and is working with its stakeholders in this regard; and

·      The delay in completing the Company's audit for the period ending June 2023 (as announced 9 May 2024) has affected the Company's ability to complete the financing for the Kilimapesa expansion project.

 Robert McCrae, CEO, commented:

 "Notwithstanding recommencement of the milling plant in February and the raising of funds toward the end of March - the mill motor failure and heavy rainfall were amongst some of the challenges faced in February and March and this has meant that our working capital position is extremely tight and this carried forward into April.

The finance team are working to complete the audit and interim financials and are confident after recent feedback from PKF the audit is in final stages. As per the announcement of the 9 May we await the final timeline for the audit from PKF.

The Kilimapesa expansion project financing is still the key value creation event for the Company, the project was subject to independent review as part of the audit and again this confirms the robust nature of the project. The timeline on the audit and recommencement of trading is driving the timeline on the expansion funding.

We have continued to engage with possible JV partners for or on a sale of our assets in Tanzania.

The current gold price supports our plans for Kilimapesa and Tanzania and we are look forward to providing further updates in near future." 

* * ENDS * *

For further information visit www.caracalgold.com or contact the following:

Caracal Gold plc Robbie McCrae	[e-mail]
VSA Capital Limited Financial Adviser and Joint Broker Andrew Raca (Corporate Finance)	[phone]
DGWA, the German Institute for Asset and Equity Allocation and Valuation European Investor and Corporate Relations Advisor Katharina Löckinger	[e-mail]

Notes:

Caracal Gold plc is an expanding East African focused gold producer with a clear path to grow production and resources both organically and through strategic acquisitions. Its aim is to rapidly increase production to +50,000ozs p.a. and build a JORC compliant resource base of +3Moz. The Company is progressing a well-defined mine optimisation strategy at its 100% owned Kilimapesa Gold Mine in Kenya, where there is significant mid-term expansion potential and the ability to increase gold production to 24,000oz p.a. and the resource to +2Moz (current JORC compliant resources of approx. 706,000oz). Alongside this, Caracal owns 100% of Tyacks Gold Ltd which owns the Nyakafuru Project in Tanzania, which has an established high-grade shallow gold resource of 658,751oz at 2.08g/t contained within four deposits over 280 km2 and appears amenable to development as a large scale conventional open pit operation.

Caracal's experienced team has a proven track record in successfully developing and operating mining projects throughout Africa.

The Company is a responsible mining and exploration company and supports the positive social and economic change that it contributes to the communities in the regions that it operates. It is a proudly East African-focused company: it buys locally, employs locally, and protects the environment and its employees and their families' health, safety, and wellbeing.

 

END