Modern Mining April 2015

GOLD

Yanfolila gold project on

Since acquiring the Yanfolila gold project in the Sikasso region of south-west Mali from Gold Fields in July last year, London-based, AIM-quoted Humming- bird Resources has moved with remarkable speed to advance the asset and is now on the brink of starting construction. Production from the new open-pit mine is expected to start in H1 2016 and will average 79 000 ounces of gold a year over an initial mine life of six-and-a-half years. The capital cost is esti- mated at US$71,6 million. Hummingbird’s engineers for the plant are SENET, based in Johannesburg but active throughout Africa.

H ummingbird’s founder and MD, Dan Betts, believes that Yan- folila represents an “incred- ible investment proposition” and points out that Gold Fields spent in the region of US$100 million on ex- ploration and development studies during the several years it owned the project (which it acquired from Glencar Mining in late 2009). “In essence, we took over a project that had been taken – to all intents and purposes – to the Definitive Feasibility Study stage and was development ready,” he says. An interesting point is why Gold Fields

relinquished the project. “Yanfolila was too small for their portfolio but they believe in the project and sold it to us for ‘paper’ in Dan Betts of Hummingbird Resources pictured at the recent Mining Indaba in Cape Town (photo: Arthur Tassell).

Grade control drilling at the Yanfolila project in Mali.

26  MODERN MINING  April 2015