Mkango Donates State of the Art Anaesthetic Machine to the Mercy James Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre Malawi to Assist in Combating COVID 19

LONDON and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mkango Resources Ltd. (AIM/TSX-V: MKA) (the "Company" or "Mkango") is pleased to announce the donation of a new state of the art Mindray WATO EX-20 anaesthetic machine to the Mercy James Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.

The new anaesthetic machine will help enable the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital to set up a new operating theatre for emergency operations, specifically for patients who are suspected of having the COVID 19 virus.

Mr Alexander Lemon, President of Mkango Resources stated:

“We are delighted to donate this anaesthetic machine to the Mercy James Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital to help fight the growing pandemic of COVID 19 in Malawi. We hope that it will potentially help save many lives in the coming years. Mkango is committed to supporting the country in which it operates, as it moves towards the sustainable development of the Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi.”

Professor Eric Borgstein, Consultant Pediatric Surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Malawi College of Medicine, stated:

“Surgical emergencies cannot wait. While the hospital is struggling to respond to the new demands of the Coronavirus epidemic, the provision of care for patients with acute surgical conditions must go on!  It is gratifying to see Mkango Resources making such a timely donation, which will benefit all our various patients, not only now but for years to come. This new anaesthetic machine will enable us to set up a separate operating theatre for patients who may be COVID infected; thereby keeping the existing theatres free for the many daily surgical emergencies. A great example of appropriate, effective and useful assistance to our hospital.”

Dr Singatiya Stella Chikumbanje, Consultant Anaesthetist at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, stated:  

“We are grateful for the donation of this anaesthetic machine. The arrival of the anaesthetic machine is very timely, as it will help in our provision of safe anaesthesia for our patients during the COVID period and beyond.  Hopefully other companies will emulate Mkango’s generosity and allow us to provide improved care to all our patients.”

The Mindray WATO EX-20 anaesthetic machine was purchased from Worldwide Pharmaceutical Distributors who are agents and distributors for Mindray in Malawi.

About The Mercy James Centre for Paediatric Surgery and Intensive Care (MJC) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital

The MJC is located in the grounds of the 1000 bed Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, the largest public and teaching hospital in Malawi. The MJC was developed by Raising Malawi, a non-government organisation founded by Madonna, in collaboration with the Malawian health ministry.

About Mkango

Mkango's primary business is exploration for rare earth elements and associated minerals in the Republic of Malawi, a country whose hospitable people have earned it a reputation as “the warm heart of Africa”. The Company holds interests in four exclusive prospecting licenses in Malawi: the Phalombe licence, the Thambani licence, the Chimimbe Hill licence and the Mchinji licence.

The main exploration target in the 51% held Phalombe licence is the Songwe Hill rare earths deposit. This features carbonatite-hosted rare earth mineralisation and was subject to previous exploration in the late 1980s. Mkango completed an updated Pre-Feasibility Study for the project in November 2015 and a Feasibility Study is currently underway, the initial phases of which included a 10,900 metre drilling programme and an updated mineral resource estimate, announced in February 2019. In March 2019, the Company announced receipt of a £7 million (C$12.3 million) investment from Talaxis to fund completion of the Feasibility Study. Following completion of the Feasibility Study, Talaxis has an option to acquire a further 26% interest in Songwe by arranging financing for project development including funding the equity component thereof.

The main exploration targets in Mkango’s remaining three 100% held licences are, in the Thambani licence, uranium, niobium, tantalum and zircon, in the Chimimbe Hill licence, nickel and cobalt, and in the Mchinji licence, rutile, nickel, cobalt, base metals and graphite.

Mkango also holds a 75.5% interest in Maginito with the balance owned by Talaxis. Maginito is focused on downstream opportunities relating to the rare earths supply chain, in particular, recycling and other innovative technologies for the production of neodymium alloy powders and magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other industries geared to decarbonisation of the economy.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any equity or other securities of the Company in the United States. The securities of the Company will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) and may not be offered or sold within the United States to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act.