Hummingbird Resources plc poured first gold yesterday ahead of schedule at the Kouroussa gold mine in Guinea.
PRODUCTION
Kouroussa is a high-grade, low-cost mine and the company’s second operating gold asset, after Yanfolila in Mali, in West Africa.
The company aims to increase operations at Kouroussa to commercial production during the second half of 2023.
The mine is expected to produce an average of 120,000 to 140,000 oz gold for the first three years of commercial production, and average 100,000 oz per annum over the current life of mine.
Community engagement plans are in place and include daily, monthly and quarterly meetings with local communities and authorities covering areas such as project progress, recruitment, local content, environmental monitoring, and health and safety.
RESOURCE INCREASE
Hummingbird said that run-of-mine pad available stockpile was currently 120,000 tonnes.
The mine’s processing plant is a one million tonne per annum capacity standard carbon-in-leach plant.
The company is also developing detailed exploration plans to restart exploration drilling plans in H2 2023-2024 to increase Kouroussa’s current reserves base of 647,000 oz at 4.15 g/t.
Chief executive officer Dan Betts added that the first gold pour had transformed Hummingbird into a multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction gold producer, more than doubling its production profile to 200,000+ oz pa.