Banro Corp's Twangiza Phase I Gold Mine Plant Entering Cold Commissioning - Focused on Q4 Production

TORONTO, Aug. 15, 2011 /CNW/ -- 
    --  Gold production is on schedule for Q4 2011 at Banro's first
        mine on the Twangiza/Namoya gold belt in the Democratic
        Republic of the Congo (the 'DRC')
    --  Twangiza's Q4 gold pour will represent the first new commercial
        gold mine in the DRC in over half a century

TORONTO, Aug. 15, 2011 /CNW/ - Banro Corporation ('Banro' or the 'Company') (NYSE AMEX - 'BAA') (TSX - 'BAA') is pleased to report that
construction of its wholly-owned Twangiza Phase 1 gold project in South
Kivu Province, DRC, is proceeding on schedule with gold production
expected to begin in Q4 2011. 'Cold commissioning' - a test run of
fluids through the ore processing plant - has now commenced with
mechanical commissioning that will proceed to 'hot commissioning' - a
test run of low grade ore material through the plant - by
mid-September.

'We are fast approaching a significant milestone for both Banro and
South Kivu province in the DRC,' commented Simon Village, CEO. 'Since
Banro's Board made the decision to proceed with development and
construction of the Twangiza Mine in the summer of 2009, we have worked
diligently to a fast schedule which has allowed our company to pour its
first gold in two years, and with weeks to go, we remain on schedule.
This event will also signal a tremendous achievement for the South Kivu
province as it will be the first new commercial gold mine in the DRC
for over half a century - and a testament to the co-operation with the
community, government and industry which was necessary for this
undertaking.'

Phase 1 Construction Update


The successful activation of this 1.3 million tonnes/year capacity gold
production facility follows 24 months of strict deadlines which have
been systematically achieved starting with the plant site and
construction camp civil excavation works, that were completed two
months ahead of schedule with a total of 1.2 million tonnes of earth
being excavated. The capacity of this plant is planned to be increased
to 1.7 million tonnes/year by mid-2012.

Plant civil construction works are virtually complete while the
structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping is 93%
complete. The Aggreko power plant - the diesel-powered generation
system with a design capacity of 7 MW - is 90% complete and a source of
raw water for the processing plant has been secured. Cold commissioning
commenced the first week of August with the testing of the conveyer
belts in the crushing circuit.

The construction of the tailings management facility is on schedule.
Some 350,000 tonnes of earth was excavated in the construction of the
foundation for the tailings dam wall and, to date 1.1 million tonnes of
earth have been placed in the wall, which will have sufficient capacity
to commence operations as per our mining schedule.

Grade control drilling for the initial mining has been completed
confirming the resource model's evaluation, and based on this data an
optimised mine plan has been finalised.  Pre-strip, which was minimal
owing to the outcrop of the reserves at surface, has been completed and
mining production is expected to commence towards the end of August.
The mine planning is designed to optimise revenue by careful management
of the cut off/cut over relationships of the ore body.

Currently the mine is on schedule to pour gold in Q4 2011 and ramp up to
full production of around 10,000 ounces per month early in 2012.

Additional information with respect to the Company's Twangiza Phase 1
gold project is contained in the technical report of SENET dated March
9, 2011 (as revised on March 24, 2011) and entitled 'Economic
Assessment NI 43-101 Technical Report, Twangiza Phase 1 Gold Project,
South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo'.

Qualified Person


Gary Chapman, the Company's Vice President, Operations and a 'qualified
person' (as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101), has
reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

Banro Corporation is a Canadian-based gold exploration and development company focused on
the development of four major, wholly-owned gold projects, each with
mining licenses, along the 210 kilometre-long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt
in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the DRC.  Led by a proven
management team with extensive gold and African experience, Banro is
constructing 'Phase 1' of its flagship Twangiza project.  Banro's
strategy is to unlock shareholder value by increasing and developing
its significant gold assets in a socially and environmentally
responsible manner.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') permits
U.S. mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only
those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally
extract or produce. Certain terms are used by the Company, such as
'measured', 'indicated', and 'inferred' 'resources', that the SEC
guidelines strictly prohibit U.S. registered companies from including
in their filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider
closely the disclosure in the Company's Form 40-F Registration
Statement, File No. 001-32399, which may be secured from the Company,
or from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements,
other than statements of historical fact, that address activities,
events or developments that the Company believes, expects or
anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without
limitation, statements regarding drilling results, estimates and/or
assumptions in respect of future gold production, revenue, cash flow
and costs, estimated project economics, mineral reserve and mineral
resource estimates, potential mineralization, potential mineral
resources, potential mineral reserves, projected timing of future gold
production and the Company's exploration and development plans and
objectives) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company
based on information currently available to the Company.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to
differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements, and even if such actual results are realized or
substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have
the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that
could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current
expectations include, among other things: uncertainty of estimates of
capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated
economic return; the possibility that actual circumstances will differ
from the estimates and assumptions used in the economic studies of the
Company's projects; failure to establish estimated mineral reserves or
mineral resources; there is no certainty that mineral resources can be
upgraded to mineral reserves through continued exploration;
fluctuations in gold prices and currency exchange rates; inflation;
gold recoveries being less than those indicated by the metallurgical
testwork carried out to date (there can be no assurance that gold
recoveries in small scale laboratory tests will be duplicated in large
tests under on-site conditions or during production); changes in equity
markets; political developments in the DRC; lack of infrastructure;
failure to procure or maintain, or delays in procuring or maintaining,
permits and approvals; lack of availability at a reasonable cost or at
all, of plants, equipment or labour; inability to attract and retain
key management and personnel; changes to regulations affecting the
Company's activities; uncertainties relating to the availability and
costs of financing needed in the future; the uncertainties involved in
interpreting drilling results and other geological data; and the other
risks disclosed under the heading 'Risk Factors' and elsewhere in the
Company's annual information form dated March 29, 2011 filed on SEDAR
at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it
is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws,
the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes
that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are
reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such
statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

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Please visit our website at www.banro.com, or contact: Simon Village, Chairman and CEO, United Kingdom, Tel: 44 1959 575 039; Arnold T. Kondrat, Executive Vice President, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, or Tomas Sipos, Vice President, Corporate Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Tel: (416) 366-2221 or 1-800-714-7938.