Quarterly Update

Asa Resource Group PLC

天然资源集团有限公司

NEWS RELEASE

29 April 2016

Asa Resource Group plc

Quarterly Operations and Explorations Update for the Fourth Quarter Ended 31 March 2016

Gold - Freda Rebecca Gold Mine (Zimbabwe)

· Gold sales for the quarter of 14,114 oz

· 24% decrease in gold sales compared to previous quarter (Q3 2016: 18,506oz)

· Decrease due to off- season gold sales but the volume 5% higher than the same period of last year(Q4 2015)

· Average realised gold sale price for the quarter of US$1,210/oz

· Production of gold of the quarter of 14,114 oz

· All-in Sustaining C3 cost for the quarter of US$1,250/oz and C1 cash cost for the quarter of US$1,060/oz

· An increase of 27% and 29% for all-in sustaining C3 costs and C1 cash costs respectively compared to Q3

· Both all-in sustaining C3 costs and C1 cash cost increased due to low production in Q4

· 18% decrease in Average feed grade to 1.80g/t from 2.19g/t (Q3)

· Gold recovery rate remains unchanged at 85%

Nickel - Trojan Mine (Zimbabwe)

· 44% growth in nickel sales to 2,274t

· Average net realised nickel in concentrate sale price for the quarter of US$5,520/t

· 42% increase in production of nickel in concentrate to 2,246t

· All-in sustaining C3 costs of nickel in concentrate for the quarter of US$4,586/t and C1 cash cost for the quarter of US$4,226/t

· A reduction of 28% and 14% in all-in sustaining C3 costs and C1 cash costs respectively compared to Q3

· All-in sustaining C3 costs below average net realised sale price

· 29% increase in average head grade to 2.304% from 1.78% (Q3)

· 4% increase in nickel recovery rate to 90.8% from 87.3% (Q3)

 Diamonds - Klipspringer Mine (South Africa)

· 43% drop in Klipspringer's throughput of Marsfontein fine residue tailings to 31,251t

· 10% decrease in diamond sales quarter-on-quarter to 17,440cts

· Average realised fine diamonds sale price for the quarter of US$ 21.95/ct

· Average realised fine diamonds production cost for the quarter of 18.05/ct

Gold - Freda Rebecca Mine (Zimbabwe)

Figures shown are unaudited and may vary upon final audit.

l C1 cash cost includes costs for mining, processing, administration, accounting movements for stockpiles and gold-in-circuit, and, net proceeds from by-product credits. It excludes capital costs for exploration, mine development or processing mill capital works and royalties

l C3 all-in sustaining cost reflects C1 costs plus depreciation and amortisation, thus incorporating the capital cost of production plus interest, other indirect costs and royalties. All-in sustaining costs represents all costs attributable to gold production over the period

Commentary  

Off Season Gold Sales - Gold sales decreased from 18,506oz to 14,114oz in Q4 FY2016 due to the seasonal effect, but the sales volume in Q4 is still 5% higher than the volume in Q4 FY2015.

Stable Gold Recovery -Gold recovery rate for Q4 FY2016 remains unchanged at 85% resulting from improvement in technology such as increase in leaching efficiencies and reduction in loss of fine carbon to tailings.

Temporary decrease in production - commissioning of new stopes for mining from the peripheries of the orebody has temporarily impacted on gold production and the feed grade, resulting in 24% drop in gold production to 14,114 oz and 18 percent decrease in feed grade to 1.80g/t.

Higher unit costs due to lower production - C1 cash costs for the quarter under review increased by 29% to US$1,060/oz from US$820/oz in Q3 FY2016 and all-in sustaining costs increased by 27% from $988/oz in Q3 FY2016 to $1,250/oz, resulting from a lower production in gold

Relatively Stable tonnes mined production - Tonnes mined for the quarter under review marginally declined by 3% to 260,413 from 267,448t in Q3 FY2016 due to below plan availability of loading equipment exasperated by damage to a loading unit as a result of an ore rush in mid-February and commissioning challenges of the refurbished unit from France in March. New loading equipment has been purchased to replace de-commissioned loading unit early in March.

Comparative marketable price- The average gold price received in Q4 FY2016 was US$1,210/oz (Q3 FY2016: US$1,096/oz), in line with the uptrend in global gold price.

Tonnes milled declined by 7% to 287,261t in Q4 FY2016 (Q3 FY2016 - 308,953t) on the backdrop of a 4% decrease in mill running time and a 3% decrease in throughput. Mill running time was mainly affected by mills relining, electricity power cuts and breakdowns on the mill 2 clutch. Throughput for the period was also affected by coarse mill feed size and low live stockpile level.

Nickel - Trojan Mine (Zimbabwe)

Figures shown are unaudited and may vary upon final audit.

l C1 cash cost per tonne includes costs for mining, processing, administration, offtake costs and penalties, transport costs, accounting movements for stockpiles, and net proceeds from by-product credits. It excludes capital costs for exploration, mine development or processing mill capital works, and, the cost of royalties

l All-in sustaining C3 cost reflects cash cost per tonne plus depreciation and amortisation, thus incorporating the capital cost of production, plus interest, other indirect costs and royalties. All-in-sustaining cost represents all costs attributable to nickel production over the period.

l Note: the company has amended the reporting of the nickel price received, cash cost and all-in sustaining cost. The average nickel price received reflects the actual price received rather than the actual average price for the quarter as previously reported. Cash costs and all-in sustaining costs are now reported as actual costs incurred, previously these costs were adjusted for the opportunity cost forgone as a result of selling a nickel concentrate rather than a nickel cathode

Commentary

Sales Growth - Nickel sales were 44% higher to 2,274t as compared to 1,577t at Q3 FY2016.

Production Increase - Production of nickel in concentrate rose by 42% in Q4FY2016 to 2,246t (Q3FY2016: 1,584t). Mined tonnage was 12% higher at 97,335t (Q3FY2016: 86,794t). Production increased due to improved equipment and reduced breakdowns on hoist, skip, compressors and locomotives. More massives were mined in Q4: 44,715t, (Q3FY2016: 22,789t), while disseminated ore dropped by 18% with the thrust being to produce more nickel. Milled tonnage was augmented by upgraded waste rock material from waste dump. The upgraded material had the advantage of low percentage magnesium oxide ("%MgO") content; which assists in reducing the %MgO in the mill feed as the run-of -mine ore comes in with higher %MgO.

Successful Cost Control Implementation - C1 cash costs of nickel in concentrate dropped by 14% to US$4,226/t from US$4,933/t Q3 FY2016, and all-in sustaining C3 costs of nickel in concentrate dropped by 28% to US$4,586/t in the quarter under review, from US$6,349/t in Q3 FY2016. This was as a result of the extraction of massives in preference to disseminated ore and a raft of cost saving initiatives. Furthermore, the company continues to implement cost reduction initiatives, such as reducing the equipment in use such as LHD's and rigs and optimising shift cycles to reduce labour and power costs. More cost reduction plans, such as the reduction of tramming distances by increasing the number of draw points, outsourcing the hauling of ore underground and the introduction of bulk emulsion for development charging (replacing the cartridge explosives) are taking place to mitigate the effect of low nickel prices.

Effective Loss Control - The rapid reduction in All-in sustaining C3 costs of nickel in concentrate improved the financial performance of the Trojan Mine. For the first time in the past several quarters, the sustaining cost is well below the realized sale price, indicating that our loss control strategies are proving more effective than we expected.

Improvement in Nickel Recovery - Recovery was 4% higher at 90.8% (Q3 FY2016: 87.3%).

Diamonds - Klipspringer Mine (South Africa)

Commentary

The care and maintenance operation at our diamond interest in South Africa is focused mainly on ongoing dewatering from the shaft bottom, maintaining surface and underground infrastructure and fire prevention during the dry season (winter months). Geologists and experts have investigated and studied past data relating to coarse tailing and the underground mine.

Diamond production from the fine tailings project is operated under contract by Greenhurst Mining & Exploration and extracts fine diamonds (-1.2mm + 0.5mm) from the old Marsfontein slimes dams. The project operates under a revenue share agreement with our share of the revenue contributing to the ongoing care and maintenance costs of Klipspringer. The fine tailing project is expected to finish within 4-6 months.

There was a pipeline theft incident in the third quarter of FY2016 and a copper wiring from a transformer box theft incident in the last quarter of FY 2016. The management has reviewed Klipspringer's security procedures to reduce the risk of theft.

Mr Yat Hoi Ning, the Company's Executive Chairman commented:

Although commodity prices rebounded in this quarter, the overall business environment was still tough and challenging. A number of the ongoing improvements put in place by management have been taking effect and helping our businesses to recover in several important areas.

At BNC's Trojan Nickel Mine, the financial condition has improved rapidly in Q4 mainly due to massive growth in Nickel sales and production, both over 40% higher than the figures in the last quarter. Our cost control measures have resulted in the C1 and C3 costs being further reduced by nearly $700/t and $1,800/t respectively since last quarter ended December 2015. It is the first time that the realised Nickel sale price is above the all-in sustaining cost (C3) in the past several quarters, regardless of market fluctuation in Nickle price. The nickel head grade has increased by 29% over the past quarter, mainly due to our strategic prioritization of accessing the higher grade ores and also due to upgrading and justifying the mining technology.

At Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, the fourth quarter, from January to March, is the traditional off-season for gold sales. As a result, sales dropped by 24% in Q4 FY2016 compared to Q3. However the sales volume of this quarter was still 5% higher than that in Q4 FY2015.

At Klipspringer, the Diamond sale price was increased by US$3.77/ct in the Q4 FY2016.

The results in March 2016 were promising and encouraging:

Our management team in Trojan has been making a considerable effort in reversing the losses in the operation. In Q4 this hard work has started to pay off and we successfully controlled the All-in Sustaining Cost (C3) well below the average realised sale price. That is a great signal for our Nickel production in terms of the profitability.

It is expected that the target for the fourth quarter will be met due primarily to operational improvements which will result in reduced underground power interruptions, resolution of compressed air shortages and increased access to dump trucks, enhancing the development pace and hence increased access to high grade ore.

At Freda Rebecca in March 2016 both sale and production for gold mining decreased due to Q4 being the off-season, making quarter-on-quarter comparison. Taking off the seasonal effect, the sale and production in Q4 FY2016 were higher than the sale and production in Q4 FY2015. The All-in sustaining cost (C3) of US$1,250/oz, almost matched with the realised sale price (US$1,210/oz), indicating that we are close to the break-even level, even off-season. That was unimaginable in the past.

In the meantime, our cost control measures shall continue in order to optimise the performance of the mines. I remain confident that this pattern of steady improvement will persist until operating targets are reached.

ABOUT ASA RESOURCE GROUP PLC

Asa Resource Group Plc is a pan-African resources company with operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and a broad range of exploration projects and interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola.

In September 2015 the Company changed its name from Mwana Africa plc to Asa Resource Group Plc to better reflect the Company's global strategy. The Group has a diverse asset base, including gold, nickel, copper, cobalt and diamonds and intends to diversify and reorganize its business along commodity lines as well as stimulating growth through global investment.

The group's primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market and enjoys the strategic advantage of having supportive and influential shareholders in China. While the Company has been built on mining in Zimbabwe and South Africa, it is intended that its interests will be diversified beyond mining as well as geographically. In Zimbabwe, Asa's interests are the Trojan and Shangani nickel mines and the Freda Rebecca Gold Mine. Asa's nickel and gold projects include Hunter's Road and Maligreen, with the Makaha deposit being a gold exploration prospect.

The Freda Rebecca Gold Mine in Zimbabwe restarted operations in 2009 and in the 12 months ended March 2015, produced 58,714oz of gold.

The Trojan Nickel Mine is owned by Asa's 74.73% owened Zimbabwe subsidiary Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC). After a four-year period of being under care and maintenance, in 2012 BNC carried out a US$23m restructuring and recapitalisation programme which allowed it to restart the Trojan mine. The first sale of nickel concentrate to Glencore plc took place in April 2013. In the 12 months ended March 2015, BNC produced 7,306t of nickel. In the DRC, Asa has exploration programmes in Zani-Kodo (gold), Katanga (copper) and a 20% stake in Société Minière de Bakwanga (diamonds). In the Katanga Province, Asa has a Joint Venture with Zhejiang Hailiang Company Limited to jointly explore for copper within the licensed areas. The Katanga concessions are otherwise known as SEMHKAT (Société d'Exploration Minière du Haut Katanga).

The Zani-Kodo joint venture project has a JORC compliant gold mineral resource of 2.97Moz.

Klipspringer Diamond Mine is Asa's South African interest. Asa holds a 69.77% interest in Klipspringer and although the mining operations are temporarily on care and maintenance, the tailings retreatment plant is in production. The viability of underground mining is being investigated.

For further information please visit www.asaukplc.com or contact:

London:

Asa Resource Group Plc

One Fleet Place, London EC4M 7W

Yim Kwan, Finance Director

Amilha Young, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary

Tel: +44(0) 20 3696 5470

Hong Kong:

Asa Resource Group Plc

Units 509-510, Level 5, Core E, Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong

Samuel Ng, Investment Manager

Tel: +852 25662638

Nominated Adviser

Grant Thornton UK LLP

30 Finsbury Square, London EC2P 2YU

Colin Aaronson, Richard Tonthat, Carolyn Sansom

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100

Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe

1 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5RB

Stewart Dickson, Jeremy Stephenson, Patrick Pittaway Tel: +44 (0) 20 7894 7000