B2Gold Mali Announces new Procurement and Community Development Initiatives in Mali and USD $1 million contribution to African School of Mines

B2Gold Mali (“B2Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report that Mr Clive T. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of B2Gold, made several important announcements during the recent Mali Presentation Day at African Mining Indaba 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mr. Johnson announced that as part of B2Gold’s ongoing commitment to build capacity in Mali’s mining sector, and expand local procurement to provide opportunities to Mali-based businesses:

 B2Gold will contribute USD$1 million towards the construction of the African School of Mines in Bamako. The new School of Mines will assist in the development and training of young Malians and build capacity in the mining sector of Mali and for the region.

 B2Gold will enhance local procurement through the purchase of large quantities of the lime needed for the mining process, through the company “Carrière et Chaux du Mali (CCM).” B2Gold will undertake to commission a lime slaker at the Feloka mine that will help process the Malian lime for the mill. B2Gold expects that this will be the first step in a potential partnership that could see B2Gold entering into a long-term contract with CCM. The Company plans to purchase an initial quantity of lime valued at USD$700,000 in 2020.

 B2Gold will establish a pilot project to procure food and cleaning supplies through a national Malian company acting as a buying house using Malian small or medium enterprises (SME). This will reduce dependency on offshore procurement companies and develop the fledgling catering supply industry in Mali. The initial trial will include up to 20% of food purchased and consumed at the Fekola operations. This would provide additional opportunities to Mali SMEs to benefit from the mine operations, while maintaining quality standard and cost efficiencies.

 In addition, as part of its ongoing community initiatives in Mali, B2Gold introduced a newUSD$10 million Integrated Rural Development Project. To be undertaken over the next five years, this signature project is a sustainable initiative meant to help prepare and position the community to undertake new commercial activities that will continue after the end of Fekola’s life of mine. The project will improve living conditions and ensure the resilience of family farms in the face of economic downturns. The Integrated Rural Development Project will be developed in an area of about 500 hectares on B2Gold’s Medinandi permit area, located nearby to the existing mining license.

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Mr. Johnson also provided an update on the construction of B2Gold’s new solar facility at Fekola. This project, which will be B2Gold’s second solar installation after the first solar facility at B2Gold Corp.’s Otjikoto mine in Namibia, remains on schedule for completion in the third quarter of 2020. The capital investment to build the power plant is estimated at $21 million. Local Malian contractors are being utilized for earthworks during construction.

The Fekola solar facility will be one of the largest combined off-grid solar/Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) powered plants in the world, with a 30 MW solar component combined with 64 MW of HFO and diesel generating capacity. The solar facility will reduce HFO consumption by approximately 13.1 million litres per year, eliminating approximately 39,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide emissions.

In his remarks at the Mali Presentation Day, Mr. Johnson highlighted the importance of B2Gold’s longstanding commitment to Mali and its strong record of cooperation with the Government of Mali, which is a direct partner in the Fekola mine. Mr. Johnson reported that total payments to governments in Mali totalled over USD$121 million in 2018, while B2Gold had committed over USD$13 million to community projects and development in 2018. This includes relocation and construction costs for the New Fadougou village, which was completed in January 2019 at a cost of USD$11.4 million.

B2Gold created a New Fadougou construction team which included training and hiring individuals from the same community that was being relocated. Eighty-five percent of the construction personnel were recruited from the surrounding communities. These construction personnel were given training on construction that included brick making, electrical, basic plumbing, food services and installation of solar panels. Additionally, B2Gold helped many of the employees establish contracting companies that can be used to generate income and complete infrastructure projects within the region.

B2Gold places great emphasis on providing jobs, opportunity and training to the local population wherever it operates, as well as expanding local content, procurement, and building capacity in local SMEs.

Mr. Johnson pointed out that over 70% of all goods and services procurement for the Fekola operation is undertaken in Mali. For example, B2Gold works daily with various contractors in Mali, including for the provision of fuel which is the largest local purchase. Total fuel purchases of HFO-380, diesel and gasoline are worth an average USD$13 million annually. B2Gold also uses various Malian labour brokers for an estimated value of USD$12 million per year, and directly employs Malian drilling, equipment, transit and transport companies.

Mr. Johnson said that B2Gold contributed nearly USD$47 million in employee wages and benefits in 2018, with over 95% of the 2,000 employees at Fekola being local. In addition, with mine and mill expansion underway and the new solar plant at Fekola under construction, B2Gold will hire more local people during the construction phase and retain some of those employees in the longer term.

B2Gold sees generating new employment at Fekola as an opportunity to contribute to the community and assist in alleviating poverty in rural areas. The poverty cycle can be broken by providing income to communities with no previous formal education or training. The Company firmly believes that a successful, responsible mining company can truly add value and leave a positive legacy to the local communities and environment by generating sustainable socio-economic and environmental benefits.

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Production at the Fekola mine in Mali is expected to reach between 590,000 and 620,000 ounces in 2020, an increase of 33% over 2019.

About B2Gold Corp.

B2Gold is a low-cost international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has three operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries. In 2020, B2Gold forecasts consolidated gold production of between 1,000,000 and 1,055,000 ounces.

Email: birama.cisse@b2gold.com Tel: +223 82 99 01 21