Modern Mining April 2015

GOLD

catalyst for development in this relatively remote and undeveloped part of Liberia. We regard it as an extremely exciting opportunity for Hummingbird.” With Yanfolila about to enter construction and Dugbe 1 at a very advanced stage, Betts can take satisfaction from the progress he has made with Hummingbird since he founded it in 2005. His achievement is all the more remarkable given that he is neither a geologist nor a mining engineer and that prior to estab- lishing Hummingbird he had no experience in either exploration or mining (although his fam- ily has a metals trading business, which he is still associated with). Although he is based in the UK (he splits his time between Birmingham and London), he has spent large amounts of time in West Africa over the years, particularly in Liberia, which is where Hummingbird first focused its efforts. He has taken to the exploration and mining game with enthusiasm and insists that Hummingbird should be seen as a mine-builder rather than as a company which takes deposits up the value curve with a view to selling them off once they’ve progressed to the point where they are attractive to majors. As he says, “We very definitely want to mine and this ambition will soon be realised with Yanfolila. Once that’s up and running, it will provide a platform for us to develop Dugbe 1, which is likely to be a more complex and expensive task given the size of our deposits in the Dugbe Shear Zone – and their capacity to grow. Ultimately, we want to be a mid-tier gold producer focused on the Birimian deposits of West Africa and I believe we are well on our way to achieving this goal.” Report by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of Hummingbird Resources (unless otherwise acknowledged)

A core drill working at Dugbe. The project already has a 4,2 Moz gold resource and is said to have significant exploration upside.

Latest developments on Yanfolila In an update on Yanfolila issued as we were going to press with this issue, Hummingbird announced that the orders for the long lead items for the project had been placed. These include the 4,3 m diameter x 6,0 m long ball mill, to be supplied by Outotec SA, and the 800 t/h mineral sizer, which is being sourced from MMD Mineral Sizing (Africa), based in Johannesburg. It also announced that a Letter of Intent had been signed with Société de Forage et de Travaux Publics (SFTP) to commence plant earthworks and that it had concluded a binding agreement with BCM International Ltd (BCM), a well-established mining and civil earthworks contractor, whereby BCM will subscribe for up to US$5 million of shares in Hummingbird in lieu of pay- ment for services during the construction phase. In addition, Hummingbird has appointed a Project ConstructionManager for Yanfolila. He is Johann du Preez, who has worked for Lycopodium in Burkina Faso and who was the Construction Manager for MDM Ferroman on the construction of the Loulo gold mine for Randgold Resources and the Tabakoto gold mine for Nevsun Resources, both in Mali. 

An access road under construction at the Dugbe project.

April 2015  MODERN MINING  31