Appointment of Lead Consultant for Dugbe 1 DFS

RNS Number : 2718J

Hummingbird Resources PLC

15 July 2013

 



15 July 2013

Hummingbird Resources plc

("Hummingbird Resources" or the "Company")

Development Update

Hummingbird Resources (AIM: HUM), the Liberian gold developer with a 3.8 Moz gold Resource, is pleased to announce a development update.

Highlights:

·     Appointment of MDM Engineering Group ("MDM") as lead consultant on the Detailed Feasibility Study ("DFS")

·     SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK") appointed as Geological and Mineral Resource Consultants

·     Coffey Mining Pty Ltd ("Coffey") appointed to run the geotechnical studies for the DFS

·     Front End Engineering and Design ("FEED") will be conducted alongside the DFS to expedite the timeframe of mine construction

·     DFS and FEED due for completion by the end of Q3 2014

·     Further results of infill drill campaign including:

o  39.0m @ 1.91g/t gold in TDC113

o  32.3m @ 1.63g/t gold in TDC113

DFS Appointments

Hummingbird Resources is pleased to announce that further to the publication of its Preliminary Economic Assessment on 8 April 2013, and following a competitive tender process, it has now signed letters of intent with the DFS consultants for its Dugbe 1 Project. The lead consultants on the project will be MDM, with support provided by SRK, Coffey and AMEC, and the Company anticipates signing final contracts in the coming weeks.     

In order to expedite the timeframe of mine construction, the FEED will be conducted alongside the DFS allowing the Company to proceed directly to an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract at the end of the DFS. Hummingbird Resources anticipates that the DFS and FEED will be completed by the end of Q3 2014.

MDM will provide consultation on the following areas of the DFS: process engineering, civil engineering, structural engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control and instrumentation engineering, FEED, infrastructure, project risk analysis, project implementation planning and capital and operating cost estimates.  The team at MDM have completed over 40 gold project DFS's and have an outstanding African track record, having built over 30 gold plants on the continent. 

Supporting MDM, SRK has been appointed as the geological and Mineral Resource Consultants.  The recent 15,802m infill drill programme will be incorporated into a new Resource model aimed at upgrading the Tuzon Mineral Resource classification from Inferred to Measured and Indicated categories, in accordance with International Reporting Codes.

Coffey have been appointed to run the geotechnical studies for the DFS, including the design of the tailings management facility. AMEC have been awarded the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) contract and will also be conducting the hydrogeology study for the DFS.

Drill Results

Following on from the initial 31 holes drilled in the first half of 2013, the Company announces the initial results from a further 10 holes drilled in the infill drill campaign. These holes represent a further 2,429m of drilling to add to the 7,716m already released of the total 15,802m drilled in total in 2013.

10 Hole Drilling Highlights:

·     TDC110                 9.0m @ 1.49g/t gold

·     TDC113                 39.0m @ 1.91g/t gold

·     TDC113                 32.3m @ 1.63g/t gold

·     TDC123                 14.2m @ 1.94g/t gold

The results announced today support the overall grade of the deposit as defined in the PEA, and indicates the potential for the existence of a higher grade zone that could be the focus of mining in the first years of operation.

The drill programme is focused on infill drilling the Company's N1 43-101 compliant Tuzon Inferred Resource to Measured and Indicated ahead of the Feasibility Study on the Company's flagship Dugbe 1 Project, which incorporates both the Dugbe F and Tuzon deposits.

Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird Resources, said:

"Following the recent formation of the Technical Advisory Committee, the appointment of DFS consultants is a critical step for the Company as it develops the Dugbe 1 Project. After a competitive tender process where we received expressions of interest from seventeen globally recognised consultancies, we are very pleased to have appointed MDM to carry out our DFS, supported by a number of internationally recognised consultants.  MDM have an outstanding track record of developing gold projects across the African continent."

Enquiries: Hummingbird Resources plc Daniel Betts, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hill, Finance Director Robert Monro, Head of Business Development	[phone]
Liberum Capital Limited Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Tom Fyson / Christopher Kololian	[phone]
FTI Consulting LLP Financial PR Ben Brewerton / Oliver Winters / Sara Powell	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

Hummingbird Resources plc is an AIM quoted mineral exploration and development company incorporated in England and Wales and headquartered in London. Since its establishment in November 2005, the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") has been active in Liberia, West Africa, and is currently the holder of the largest area of mineral exploration ground in the highly prospective Birimian geological region of eastern Liberia. The Group's total Inferred Resource is 3,835,000 ounces of gold. The Group has published a PEA on its project showing for a 3.5Mtpa tank leach operations an NPV of US$337m with a Capex of US$212m and an IRR of 43.4%. This gives a payback period of 3 years and is based on a 10% discount rate and US$1,500 gold price (three year average gold price at time of release).

The Group has published a NI43-101 compliant Inferred Resource on its Dugbe F deposit of 43.01 million tonnes at 1.28 g/t Au to give 1,764,000 ounces of gold using a lower cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au and no upper cut-off grade. In addition, the Group has declared an Inferred Resource on its Tuzon project of 51.1 million tonnes at 1.26 g/t Au to give 2,071,000 ounces gold using a lower cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au and an upper cut-off grade of 7.0 g/t Au. Tuzon lies 2.6km to the east of the Dugbe F deposit. Exploration is being carried out to best industry practices.

In 2013 the Group is moving the Dugbe 1 Project towards feasibility and has completed over 15,000m of infill drilling to its existing Resources as well as continued regional exploration work.

The Group currently holds exploration licences covering approximately 7,000 square kilometres in total, which constitutes a significant proportion of eastern Liberia containing the Birimian sequence.

For more information, please visit www.hummingbirdresources.co.uk 

Calculated at 0.5 g/t Au lower cut-off and 7.0 g/t Au upper cut-off						Drill collar information
Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Grade (g/t Au)		EUTM Survey	NUTM Survey	RL Survey	DIP	AZ	EOH
TDC110	108	110	2	0.64		555194	562587	108	-60	295	279
	119	122	3	1.07
	130	131	1	0.76
	133	135	2	1.23
	158	167	9	1.49
	228	229	1	0.72
TDC111	41	42	1	0.5		555060	562651	103	-60	295	229
	62.8	67	4.2	1.3
	72.2	74	1.8	1.12
	84	89	5	1.35
	208	209	1	1.65
TDC113	0	1	1	0.77		555435	563526	108	-60	295	279
	3.9	42.9	39	1.91
	44.1	48.3	4.2	1.84
	50.7	83	32.3	1.63
TDC118	10.6	14	3.4	0.79		555394	563467	111	-60	295	210
	16	21	5	1.75
	43	49	6	1.5
	53	56	3	1.35
	58	61	3	1.22
	82	87	5	1.69
	98	99	1	0.82
TDC119	229	230	1	1.07		555248	563222	108	-60	295	270
	232	235	3	0.92
	238	239.4	1.4	0.99
	241.6	242.8	1.2	0.71
TDC120	110	111	1	1.25		555331	563507	103	-60	295	162
TDC121	98	99	1	0.97		555363	563570	168	-60	293	97
	103	106	3	0.56
	108	111	3	1.13
	114	116	2	1.59
TDC123	1	4	3	0.59		555378	563222	105.34	-60	295	306
	9	17.1	8.1	0.82
	19	20	1	0.69
	27	29	2	0.91
	32	33	1	0.57
	35.1	48	12.9	0.69
	53	57	4	0.65
	59.9	61	1.1	0.61
	70.2	71.3	1.1	0.66
	74.4	75.4	1	0.64
	77.4	78.5	1.1	1.44
	80.8	81.9	1.1	0.51
	84	87	3	1.13
	106.8	109	2.2	0.83
	119	122	3	0.68
	125	136.1	11.1	0.64
	142.3	156.5	14.2	1.94
	158.6	159.6	1	1.21
	161.9	167	5.1	0.76
	170	178	8	0.57
	180	189	9	2.09
	190.1	191.2	1.1	0.52
TDC134	61	62	1	1.08		554543	562186	182.6	-60	297	183
	68.1	69.1	1	0.91
	98	99	1	0.55
	111	112	1	0.62
	125	126	1	1.07
TDC135	63	64	1	2.01		554829	562233	332.6	-60	295	333
	123	124	1	1.36
	131	137	6	0.91
	140	141	1	2.73
	159	160	1	1.61
	162	167	5	1.38
	175	177	2	0.95
	215	216	1	5.83
	220	225	5	1.22

Note: David Pelham has reviewed and approved the technical information contained within this announcement in his capacity as a qualified person, as required under the AIM rules.  David Pelham is a Director of the Company, sits on the Technical Advisory Committee and is a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

 

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