Pan African Resources Plc 21 Day Lockdown and Suspension of Production Guidance

 
TIDMPAF 
 
Pan African Resources PLC 
 
(Incorporated and registered in England and Wales 
 
under Companies Act 1985 with registered number 
 
3937466 on 25 February 2000) 
 
Share code on AIM: PAF 
 
Share code on JSE: PAN 
 
ISIN: GB0004300496 
 
("Pan African Resources" or "the Company" or "the Group") 
 
  ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING SOUTH AFRICAN 21-DAY LOCKDOWN AND SUSPENSION OF 2020 
                              PRODUCTION GUIDANCE 
 
Shareholders are referred to the South African Government directive of  Monday 
evening, 23 March 2020, enacted in terms of the South African Disaster 
Management Act (the "Order"), which requires a 21-day national lockdown, 
effective midnight 26 March 2020 to midnight 16 April 2020 (the "National 
Lockdown"), in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) 
pandemic.  The full Government announcement can be found at http:// 
www.thepresidency.gov.za. 
 
The National Lockdown requires all non-essential businesses and activities to 
be suspended, with people confined to their homes.  The lockdown will therefore 
impact all South African mining operations, including the operations of Pan 
African Resources.  Under the Order, "companies whose operations require 
continuous processes such as furnaces or underground mine operations will be 
required to make arrangements for care and maintenance to avoid damage to their 
continuous operations". 
 
The health and safety of its employees and communities are of paramount 
importance to Pan African and the Group has already implemented a number of 
measures to mitigate the risk of the Covid-19 virus spreading at its 
operations. The Group is implementing contingency plans to ensure that all 
operations are safeguarded and secured during the National Lockdown period. 
The Group is also engaging with all stakeholders, including the South African 
Government, to obtain further detail on permitted activities during the 
National Lockdown. 
 
The Group's liquidity position is robust, with immediately available facilities 
of U$20m. In addition, Rand Merchant Bank has already agreed, subject to final 
credit approval, to defer the last three tranches of the existing gold loan's 
redemption, constituting 5000 ounces (U$7.8m), to the first quarter of the 2021 
financial year. Furthermore, the Group has access to an additional gold loan 
facilities of approximately U$11m, should it be required. In the event that the 
National Lockdown is extended for a prolonged period, the Company will look to 
reschedule its short term senior debt obligations. The Company's banking 
Consortium has also confirmed its support for the Group should further 
liquidity be required during this period. 
 
In consideration of the National Lockdown and its impact on the Group's 
operations, FY2020 production guidance is suspended until the Company is in a 
better position to quantify the full impact of the lockdown. The Company will 
continue to monitor the situation, and will inform shareholders as new 
information becomes available. 
 
Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, commented: "Pan African supports all 
measures to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the people of South Africa.  Even 
though the National Lockdown will impact negatively on our operational 
performance in the short term, our Group is well positioned and our operations 
robust.  In South African Rand terms, the gold price is now at a record level, 
and we look forward to resuming full-scale operations to the benefit of all of 
our stakeholders as soon as it is possible and safe to do so". 
 
Rosebank 
 
24 March 2020 
 
For further information on Pan African, please visit the Company's website at 
www.panafricanresources.com 
 
Contact information 
 
Corporate Office                              Registered Office 
The Firs Office Building                      Suite 31 
2nd Floor, Office 204                         Second Floor 
Cnr. Cradock and Biermann Avenues             107 Cheapside 
Rosebank, Johannesburg                        London 
South Africa                                  EC2V 6DN 
Office:   + 27 (0)11 243 2900                 United Kingdom 
[e-mail]                                Office: + 44 (0)20 7796 8644 
 
Cobus Loots                                   Deon Louw 
Pan African Resources PLC                     Pan African Resources PLC 
Chief Executive Officer                       Financial Director 
Office: + 27 (0)11 243                        Office: + 27 (0)11 243 2900 
2900 
 
Phil Dexter/Jane Kirton                       John Prior 
St James's Corporate Services Limited         Numis Securities Limited 
Company Secretary                             Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker 
Office: + 44 (0)20 7796 8644                  Office: [phone] 
 
Ciska Kloppers                                Ross Allister/David McKeown 
Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary        Peel Hunt LLP 
Limited                                       Joint Broker 
JSE Sponsor                                   Office: [phone] 
Office: + 27 (0)11 011 9200 
 
Julian Gwillim                                Thomas Rider/Neil Elliot 
Aprio Strategic Communications                BMO Capital Markets Limited 
Public & Investor Relations SA                Joint Broker 
Office: [phone]                    Office: [phone] 
 
Website: www.panafricanresources.com 
 
 
 
END 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2020 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)