Hummingbird appoints contractor for one of its African gold mines

FRESH from broadening the scope of its West African gold exploration projects, Birmingham-registered Hummingbird Resources has awarded a major contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management of one of its important sites.

The company has appointed South African project management and engineering group, SENET for its Yanfolila Gold Project in Mali.

SENET will carry out detailed engineering and manage the associated infrastructure and mine construction. Hummingbird expects to begin production at the site by the end of next year.

The appointment follows successful $71m fundraising by Hummingbird with investors being lured by the promise of a 60% return.

It is estimated the mine could yield 132,000oz gold in its first full year of production with the life of mine (LoM) average estimated at 107,000oz per annum.

Should this be the case then the mine could represent net value of $162m, based on a $1,250 gold price.

Dan Betts, managing director of Hummingbird Resources, said: “With SENET contracted for Yanfolila’s mine construction, detailed engineering has now commenced.  

“We have been working with SENET for two years through the optimisation of the Project and delivery of the DFS and we look forward to building a mine with them.”

SENET was previously involved with Yanfolila when it was owned by Gold Fields so its knowledge of the region is considered second to none.  

“Coupled with their long and impressive history of delivering quality projects in Africa, this gives us all great confidence,” he added.