Petmin invest an additional US$1.5m

RNS Number : 0944K

Hummingbird Resources PLC

11 July 2011

 



JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hummingbird Resources plc ("Hummingbird") (AIM:HUM) and Petmin Limited ("Petmin")(AIM:PTMN)

Petmin invest an additional US$1.5m to secure a 50% interest in Iron Bird Resources Inc

Hummingbird and Petmin are pleased to announce that Petmin has invested a further US$1.5m in Iron Bird Resources Inc ("Iron Bird") the sole owner of the Mt Ginka iron ore exploration licence in northern Liberia.

This concludes phase two of Petmin's investment under the joint venture agreement with Hummingbird, announced on 25 January 2011 ("Joint Venture Agreement"). 

The investment takes Petmin's total investment in Iron Bird to US$2m, and under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement, Hummingbird and Petmin each hold 50% in Iron Bird.  Both parties now have the option to contribute equally to any further funding required.

This investment means that Iron Bird is fully funded for the next stage of work, which focuses on geological mapping, trenching, drilling and metallurgical test work.  This work program is focused on obtaining representative samples of the ore body to confirm the earlier grab samples which ranged from 33%-54% Mag Fe and to  demonstrate that the ore body is both extractable and economic.  Future drilling will give an indication of the size of the deposit.

Commenting today, Dan Betts CEO of Hummingbird:

 "We are very pleased that Petmin has invested a further $1.5m to complete its second phase of investment. This investment underlines Petmin's confidence in the potential of this project, which recent airborne geophysics have shown to be significant."

Jan du Preez, Petmin's CEO said:

"Our investment of the $1.5m secures our 50% interest in Iron Bird and highlights the potential of what we see in this well located project. It also further underpins the value of Petmin's businesses strategy of investing astutely in projects which feed into the steel and infrastructure development value chain."

Iron Bird

On 27^th June 2011 it was announced that a continuous magnetic unit, interpreted as an iron formation, extended 20km along strike with widths of up to 250m and depths of 1, 000m.  This was discovered from the results of a recently flown aeromagnetic survey over the Mount Ginka license.

Iron Bird Resources is the sole owner of the Mt Ginka iron ore exploration license in northern Liberia. The prospect lies approximately 20km south of the Mount Nimba ridge, a historic major iron ore mine reportedly producing between 12Mt and 24Mt per annum of high grade direct shipping ore during the period 1964 to 1989, which has been re-opened by Arcelor Mittal.  Approximately 15km to the west of the Mount Ginka ridge lies the railway built to transport the Mount Nimba iron ore to the deep water port of Buchanan.

ENDS

Enquiries:

Hummingbird Resources plc

Daniel Betts, Chief Executive Officer

Thomas Hill, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary

Robert Monro, Corporate Development 

[phone]

Liberum Capital Limited

Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker

Tom Fyson / Richard Bootle

[phone]

Mirabaud Securities LLP

Joint Broker

Peter Krens [phone]

Threadneedle Communications Limited

Laurence Read /Beth Harris [phone]

Petmin Limited

Bradley Doig

[phone]

River Group

Andrew Lianos

[phone]

Numis Securities Ltd

Nominated Advisor and Broker

John Harrison / James Black

[phone]

Notes to Editors

Hummingbird Resources plcis an AIM quoted mineral exploration company incorporated in England and Wales and headquartered in London. Since its establishment in November 2005, 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 licences are prospective for gold, iron ore and other minerals.

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.

The Group's most advanced gold exploration has taken place in the Dugbe, Joe Village and Zia licence areas, with a recently confirmed gold resource at the Dugbe F Project of 20.90 million tonnes at 1.208 g/t to give 812,000 oz Au using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t (Indicated resource of 552,000 ounces of gold at 1.078 g/t Au and an Inferred resource of 260,000 ounces of gold at 1.624 g/t Au). The exploration has been based on sound geological premises and has been executed in an efficient and practical manner according to best industry practices.

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

Petmin Limiteda JSE and AIM listed mining company that is primarily focused on a mix of quality, cash-producing assets and projects, with a diverse geographical spread of commodities that feed into infrastructure growth and urbanisation. 

Petmin is one of the leading producers of quality anthracite and silica in South Africa and has an iron ore project in Canada and has recently announced an investment in a copper project in Turkey. The company has been listed on the JSE Limited (JSE) since 1986 and the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) since 2006.

For more information, please visit www.petmin.co.za

 

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