TIDMHUM
RNS Number : 2246B
Hummingbird Resources PLC
19 September 2018
Hummingbird Resources plc / Ticker: HUM / Index: AIM / Sector:
Mining
Hummingbird Resources plc
("Hummingbird" or the "Company")
Initial Exploration Results and Second Ball Mill approved for
Yanfolila
Hummingbird Resources (AIM:HUM), is pleased to announce its
first drilling results from the 2018 exploration programme and that
it has approved the construction of a second ball mill at the
Yanfolila Gold Mine ('Yanfolila'). The Company expects Yanfolila's
Reserves will grow over its mine life and a second mill will allow
the plant to increase its throughput capacity.
The drilling is predominantly targeting the conversion of
Resources to Reserves as well as some new Reserves not previously
defined as Resources with the aim of extending the mine life of the
Yanfolila Gold Mine.
Highlights:
Second Ball Mill
-- Increase in the plant throughput to 1.4Mtpa from 1.24Mtpa based on a blend of ore types
-- When operating at 100% fresh ore the throughput capacity will
increase from 1Mtpa to 1.24Mtpa
-- Second mill due to be operational in Q3 2019 and have a capex of circa. US$13m
Komana West ('KW') Deposit best intersections
-- 11.45m @ 8.69g/t from 69m depth (KWDD0604A)
-- 25.75m @ 2.95g/t from 117m depth (KWDD0603)
-- 8.05m @ 4.98 g/t from 72.4m depth (KWDD0603)
-- 8.1m @ 5.52 g/t from 84.9m depth (KWDD0603)
Guirin West ('GW') Deposit best intersections
-- 16m @ 3.11g/t from 38m depth (GRWRC1109)
-- 4m @ 8.12g/t from 13m depth (GRWRC1106)
-- 9m @ 2.06g/t from 27m depth (GRWRC1104)
-- 13m @ 1.91 g/t from 16m depth (GRWRC1116)
Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird, commented:
"Approving the second ball mill, in place of the tertiary
crusher, at the same time as releasing our initial results from the
2018 exploration programme shows the confidence we have in
increasing our Reserves at Yanfolila. The second mill will give us
greater flexibility and 24% more throughput when operating on 100%
fresh ore. I am delighted with the initial drill results and look
forward to receiving more over the coming months.
I am very pleased to continue our working relationship with
SENET who have been appointed the EPCM contractor for the second
ball mill and look forward to carrying out another successful
construction project with them."
Murray Paterson, Chief Geologist for Hummingbird, commented:
"We are delighted to have commenced exploration works at
Yanfolila, with a new team, new eyes, new ideas and a lot of
enthusiasm to be successful. As stated previously our focus is on
targeting Reserve growth by drilling out known Inferred and / or
de-risking the Indicated Resources at the 4 deposits within the
mining permit but not yet in the Reserve mine plan. The results at
KW show that the previous drilling didn't delineate and close off
the mineralisation at this deposit. Drilling at Gonka is very
exciting and we look forward to receiving and publishing the
results when available."
Further information:
Second Ball Mill
The Yanfolila crushing circuit is currently a two-stage
operation incorporating both primary and secondary crushing
circuits designed to treat a blend of oxide and harder ores. The
original DFS plan was to add a tertiary crushing circuit in order
to allow the plant to process 100% hard fresh ore later in the mine
life. However, the annual throughput was expected to decrease from
1.24Mtpa to 1.0Mtpa, when operating with 100% fresh ore which led
to the LoM average production dropping to 107,000ozs/year from
130,000oz in the first full year of commercial production.
A review of the scope for a tertiary crushing circuit indicated
substantially higher costs and complexity of operation, hence a
trade-off study was carried out to evaluate the installation of a
secondary ball mill instead of the tertiary crusher. The conclusion
drawn from this trade-off study was that with the addition of a
secondary ball mill the plant could maintain its current capacity
of 1.24Mtpa when processing 100% fresh ore. When blended with 25%
oxide material the throughput capacity increases to 1.4Mtpa. The
incremental gold recovered, and increased revenue associated with
installing a secondary milling circuit outweighs the higher
operating costs and incremental capital costs associated with the
same.
The Project will primarily be undertaken by SENET who under the
terms of an EPCM contract will assume and maintain technical
control of and responsibility for the design and construction of
the facilities in accordance with SENET specifications and shall
appoint competent project personnel for this purpose. SENET were
the EPCM contractor who completed the construction of Yanfolila and
it was delivered on time and budget.
In the event of any issues with our primary mill a second mill
at Yanfolila has the added benefit of reducing downtime and
potential lost throughput.
Cost estimated for the installation and commissioning of the
second mill is circa. US$13m and it is due to be operational in Q3
2019.
2018 Exploration Results
Please click on the following link to see a map of the deposit
locations on the mining permit.
https://bit.ly/2DckORX
Komana West
A revised structural interpretation has been carried out. Based
on the revised model a number of mineable widths are coming through
on drill intersections outside of the current pit design and
extending zones within the current pit design deeper. Further
diamond drilling is planned to follow up the above intersections to
confirm their continuity along strike and down dip. Once drilling
has confirmed the geometry of the new zones, modelling will be
carried out to confirm the tonnes and grade of these zones and the
pit optimisation re-run before they can be added into the mine
plan.
4,943 metres drilled. Results from first 967 m received. Further
drilling required to follow the first batch of results, awaiting
the second batch from the remaining diamond and RC drilling.
Guirin West
The GW drilling has been strictly to infill and de-risk the
(+70kozs) Resources already delineated. The drilling has confirmed
the existence of shallow oxide mineralisation suitable for
extraction by open pit mining. No Reserves or Resources from GW are
in the current mine plan and any Reserves delineated will be
available for mining in the short term due to the shallow nature of
the mineralisation, the close proximity to the processing plant and
current haul road infrastructure. GW is a +2km long zone striking
North-South with 6-7 occurrences of mineralisation located within.
The current drilling is targeting the 2 largest and highest grades
zones with further potential identified for drilling to be
completed either this year or the next.
1,956m drilled and programme for the southern zone completed,
with the northern zone still to be drilled (delayed due to the wet
season).
Gonka
Good progress is being made by our drilling contractor with the
rigs deployed at Gonka, another of the drill targets scheduled for
drilling this year. Gonka already contains mineralisation within an
economic pit shell as well as high grade Inferred Resources
suitable for underground mining as indicated in the scoping study
by DRA, 2016. Gonka has an Inferred Resource of 385,198ozs @
3.1g/t.
1,340 metres drilled to date with no results yet received. It is
the Company's belief that there is a potential for an economic open
pit and underground mining operation. Located only 5km from the
process plant it is well located for any potential additional ore
to be added to the mine plan.
Sanioumale East and West
Along strike from Guirin West and Komana East, Sanioumale West
and East were deposits drilled initially by Gold Fields with some
de-risking drilling carried out by the Company in 2014 after
purchasing Yanfolila. Due to the mine plan under consideration at
the time (2014/2015) only oxide and transitional Resources were
defined and reported by Hummingbird in its Resource statement even
though Gold Fields had drilled and defined fresh rock resources in
addition to the reported oxide resources. Approximately 25,000m of
drilling is planned for later this year to target the high grade
extensions into the fresh rock and improve the confidence of the
currently defined Indicated resources within the Oxide and
Transition zone
Komana East
Located along the same high-grade structure as Gonka, Komana
East will be drilled as part of a focused plan to develop the
existing resources (>100koz) beneath the current final pit
design into an underground operation. The majority of the ex-pit
Resources (76koz) are currently classified as Indicated with only
37kozs as Inferred. A recently commissioned underground scoping
study by DRA, has shown that the high-grade Resources under the pit
at Komana East are economically viable by underground extraction.
Only if time permits will the Komana East Underground resource be
drilled within this year's drilling programme.
In excess of 10,000 m of the planned 50,000+m drilling campaign
has been completed to date of which results have been received from
the first 3,000m of drilling completed. It is anticipated all the
drilling will be completed during Q4 2018. Drilling is yet to start
at Sanioumale East and West; both deposits have resources currently
defined and once drilled will provide an immediate and substantial
source of oxide ore.
Komana West
Full drill results - 2m cut-off grade 0.3g/t
Intercept Grade
Hole_ID From (m) To (m) (m) (g/t) Intercept
---------- ------- --------------
4.00m @ 2.98
KWDD0600 142 146 4 2.98 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
8.05m @ 4.98
KWDD0603 72.4 80.45 8.05 4.98 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
8.10m @ 5.52
KWDD0603 84.9 93 8.1 5.52 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
3.25m @ 0.42
KWDD0603 103.75 107 3.25 0.42 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
25.75m @ 2.95
KWDD0603 117 142.75 25.75 2.95 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
2.00m @ 0.58
KWDD0604 64 66 2 0.58 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
13.50m @ 5.33
KWDD0604 69 82.5 13.5 5.33 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
3.15m @ 2.83
KWDD0604A 61.85 65 3.15 2.83 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
11.5m @ 8.69
KWDD0604A 69 80.45 11.45 8.69 g/t
------------ --------- ------- ---------- ------- --------------
Guirin West
Full drill results - 2m cut-off grade 0.3g/t
Intercept Grade
Hole_ID From (m) To (m) (m) (g/t) Intercept Description
4.00m @ 0.89
GRWRC1102 25 29 4 0.89 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
3.00m @ 0.70
GRWRC1104 9 12 3 0.70 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
9.00m @ 2.06
GRWRC1104 27 36 9 2.06 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
3.00m @ 0.62
GRWRC1105 54 57 3 0.62 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
4.00m @ 8.12
GRWRC1106 13 17 4 8.12 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
2.00m @ 1.83
GRWRC1109 15 17 2 1.83 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
16.00m @ 3.11
GRWRC1109 38 54 16 3.11 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
3.00m @ 0.32
GRWRC1109 61 64 3 0.32 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
9.00m @ 1.45
GRWRC1112 12 21 9 1.45 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
17.00m @ 1.62
GRWRC1112 23 40 17 1.62 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
7.00m @ 0.41
GRWRC1112 44 51 7 0.41 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
8.00m @ 0.81
GRWRC1113 66 74 8 0.81 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
3.00m @ 0.76
GRWRC1116 9 12 3 0.76 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
13.00m @ 1.91
GRWRC1116 16 29 13 1.91 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
8.00m @ 0.65
GRWRC1117 50 58 8 0.65 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
2.00m @ 0.55
GRWRC1117 61 63 2 0.55 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
2.00m @ 0.42
GRWRC1121 110 112 2 0.42 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
6.00m @ 1.04
GRWRC1123 26 32 6 1.04 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
6.00m @ 0.74
GRWRC1123 40 46 6 0.74 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
3.00m @ 0.75
GRWRC1126 72 75 3 0.75 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
2.00m @ 0.89
GRWRC1127 70 72 2 0.89 g/t
--------- ------- ---------- ------- ----------------------
Qualified Person Review
Murray Paterson has reviewed the technical information contained
within this announcement in his capacity as a Qualified Person, as
required under the AIM Rules for Companies. Murray Paterson is the
Chief Geologist for the Company and is a member of good standing
with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
(MAusIMM).
**ENDS**
For further information, please visit
www.hummingbirdresources.co.uk or contact:
Daniel Betts, Hummingbird Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409
CEO 6660
Thomas Hill,
FD
Robert Monro,
IR
James Spinney Strand Hanson Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409
Ritchie Balmer 3494
James Bellman Nominated Adviser
-------------------------- ----------------------
Martin Davison Canaccord Genuity Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523
James Asensio Broker 8000
-------------------------- ----------------------
Gordon Poole Camarco Tel: +44 (0) 20 3 757
Owen Roberts 4980
James Crothers Financial PR/IR
-------------------------- ----------------------
About Hummingbird Resources Plc
Notes to Editors
Hummingbird Resources (AIM: HUM) is 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
pre-production 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 at a US$1,300 gold price.
In addition to Hummingbird's production and development assets,
the Company also has an exploration footprint of 4,000km(2) 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.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
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of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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