Positive Ramp-up Update at the Yanfolila Gold Mine

RNS Number : 0544I

Hummingbird Resources PLC

19 March 2018

 

Hummingbird Resources plc / Ticker: HUM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

Hummingbird Resources plc

("Hummingbird" or the "Company")

Positive Ramp-up Update at the Yanfolila Gold Mine

Hummingbird Resources (AIM: HUM) is pleased to announce a ramp up update from the Yanfolila Gold Mine in Mali ("Yanfolila"), which commenced gold production in December 2017, in advance of an analyst site visit this week.

Production Update

Completion of plant construction and ore commissioning in 2017, was achieved within both the planned 18-month schedule and the US$88.5 million budgeted capital cost.  Since first gold was poured on 19 December 2017, the performance of the plant has steadily improved month by month.  In the first 14 days of March, the plant operated at an average of 95% of design throughput and has consistently achieved a gold recovery rate of approximately 96%, which is in excess of design specification.

Total gold recovered to 14 March 2018 was 16,804 ounces, of which 11,958 ounces has been poured and 4,846 ounces are currently within circuit inventory.

During the initial ore commissioning phase, the plant was processing ore from the lower-grade stockpiles in order to ensure plant performance and gold recovery were satisfactory before increasing the head grade.  Over the past two months, the amount of high grade ore fed into the mill blend has been steadily increased and the plant is now running close to name-plate capacity with recoveries remaining consistently above design; higher-grade ore continues to be increasingly introduced to the plant. 

	Month 1 Commencing 9 December 2017	Month 2 Commencing 8 January 2018	Month 3 Commencing 8 February 2018
Tonnes Milled (dry)	55,699	72,346	86,592
Mill Feed Grade (g/t)	2.02	2.34	3.35
Throughput (dry tonnes/hour)	102	117	139
Plant Availability * (%)	78	83	87
Gold Recovery ** (%)	95.9	95.8	96.5

*Plant availability is due to be 91% when in steady state operations

**Recovery calculations based on gold lost to tailings

Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird, commented: 

"We are delighted that the plant has performed so well and that the work carried out by our highly experienced team and contractors has so far been rewarded in ramp-up operations with 96% recoveries, over 3g/t head grade and a steady increase in plant throughput towards design.  This is an impressive achievement in such a short space of time."

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.hummingbirdresources.co.uk or contact: 

Daniel Betts Thomas Hill Robert Monro	Hummingbird Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
James Spinney Ritchie Balmer James Bellman	Strand Hanson Limited Nominated Adviser & Broker	Tel: [phone]
Lottie Wadham Susie Geliher	St Brides Partners Ltd Financial PR/IR	Tel: [phone]

About Hummingbird Resources Plc

Notes to Editors

Hummingbird Resources (AIM: HUM) is building a leading gold production, development and exploration company.  The Company has two core gold projects, the Yanfolila Gold Mine in Mali and the Dugbe Gold Project in Liberia. 

Yanfolila produced its first gold pour on time and budget in December 2017 and is expected to produce approximately 107,000oz gold/year on average over the Life of Mine.  Yanfolila holds Probable Reserves of 709,800oz @ 3.14g/t, total Resources of 1.8Moz of gold and an additional 390,700oz of non-compliant exploration potential. 

The Dugbe Gold Project has Resources currently totalling 4.2Moz of gold and a completed NI 43-101 compliant PEA on the project showing a 29% IRR and US$186m NPV. 

In addition to Hummingbird's production and development assets, the Company also has an exploration footprint of ~5,000km² and a 34% interest in AIM listed Cora Gold, which is advancing a portfolio of prospects in Mali and Senegal.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014.

 

END

 

 

MSCBRGDXSBBBGIL