Losses double for gold firm Hummingbird
BIRMINGHAM-based minerals exploration firm Hummingbird Resources has announced a doubling of full-year losses to more than £2.6m.
The Jewellery Quarter-registered firm, floated in December 2010, has reported a pre-tax loss of £2.61m (2010: -£1.29m).
Nevertheless, the company said it was pleased with the progress it had made during the year, which has seen its maiden gold discovery.
Dan Betts, chief executive, said: “The company has had a very successful year. We discovered and announced our maiden gold resource. We successfully listed the company on the AIM market and were well received in our over-subscribed Initial Public Offering.
“Since the year end we have continued to make rapid progress in Liberia. Our recently announced resource upgrade makes Hummingbird’s Dugbe F project one of the fastest growing gold Resources in West Africa this year.”
He said with the teams the company now had in place, combined with the geological potential of the ground under licence and sufficient cash reserves in place to see it through its IPO exploration timetables, he was very encouraged about the prospects for the next 12 months.
The successful IPO raised around £25.5m, allowing the firm’s exploration operations to continue.
Since being established in November 2005, the firm 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 firm’s most advanced gold exploration has taken place in the Dugbe and Joe Village licences. The recently upgraded gold resource at the Dugbe F Project could yield 1,765,000 ounces of gold.
Hummingbird said the exploration had been based on sound geological premises and had been executed in an efficient and practical manner according to best industry practices.
The firm currently holds exploration licences covering approximately 7,000 sq km, which constitutes a significant proportion of the Birimian geological region of eastern Liberia.
The firm was co-founded by Daniel Betts, who is the son of Stephen Betts, chairman of Betts Metals and who is also a non-executive director of Hummingbird. The Betts family has been smelting, refining and dealing in precious metals in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter for 250 years and seven generations.
