AMN - MALI: Mining underway at Yanfolila

Pre-production mining has commenced on schedule at Hummingbird Resources' Yanfolila Gold Project in Mali. Mining will ramp-up over the next three months and the first gold pour is expected by the end of 2017.

The pre-production mining is being carried out using a contract fleet operated by African Mining Services (AMS) and by the end of November it is anticipated that more than 3 million tonnes of material will have been moved.

During the first phase of mining there will be areas of free dig material as well as material that will require light blasting. Blasting will be conducted using non-electric down hole delay detonators with ammonium nitrate, fuel oil (ANFO) for dry holes and emulsion explosives for wet holes. AEL Mining Services will provide an explosive storage and supply service to AMS.

Advanced grade control drilling to better delineate the orebody and improve planning and ore scheduling to the mill is ongoing together with state of the art Trimble differential GPS and Pix 4D drone mapping for survey and volumetric calculations.

Minesched software is being used for short-term and life of mine scheduling with Blockbuster software being used to update the ore reserve model with advance grade control drilling assay results.

Hummingbird said that ore is being stockpiled in advance of its introduction to the process plant in Q4. Construction of the plant and associated infrastructure remain on budget and schedule with commissioning anticipated in Q4.

Yanfolila is forecast to produce 132,000 ounces of gold in its first full year of production at a Life of Mine (LoM) All in Sustaining Cost of US$695/ounce. Average annual production is forecast at 107,000 ounces over the Life of Mine in tandem with exploration and development initiatives to expand the current mine plan.

Hummingbird CEO Dan Betts said, “Commencement of mining activities at Yanfolila is a significant milestone for Hummingbird as we continue to bring the project closer to production by the end of this year. Our contract mining partners, AMS, have mobilised a significant fleet to site and this commitment emphasises the momentum the project has gained throughout the year.

“As we enter the final months of construction we remain on time and budget for first gold by the end of 2017. We will look to build on the current momentum as we ramp up to full-scale mining and production.”

www.hummingbirdresources.co.uk