Hummingbird Resources plc (AIM: HUM) has announced its first gold pour at the Kouroussa Gold mine in Guinea, ahead of the end of Q2 2023 schedule.
Commissioning at Kouroussa commenced early May 2023 and having achieved first gold pour, the mine is now expected to ramp up to commercial production during H2 2023.
Kouroussa is a high-grade, low-cost mine, and is the company’s second operating gold asset in west Africa. It is expected to produce an average of 120,000 to 140,000oz of gold for the first three years of commercial production, and average 100,000oz/a over the current life of mine at an AISC profile of US$1,000/oz.
Dan Belts CEO of Hummingbird, commented, “The achievement of first gold pour at our second operating mine, Kouroussa in Guinea, is a major strategic milestone for the company, transforming Hummingbird into a multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction gold producer, that more than doubles our production profile to over 200,000oz/a.”
The first gold pour was successfully poured at Kouroussa on 8 June 2023.
Mining continues in preparation for name plate production expected during H2-2023, with a ROM pad stockpile currently of 120,000t available for ongoing commissioning and ramp-up.
The Kouroussa processing plant is a 1Mtpa capacity standard carbon-in-leach plant.
Comprehensive community engagement plans have been implemented, including daily, monthly, and quarterly meetings with local communities and authorities covering a variety of topics such as project progress, recruitment, local content, environmental monitoring, and health and safety.
Further, implementation of detailed community project and livelihood restoration programmes is ongoing as the mine becomes fully operational.
Detailed Kouroussa exploration plans are being developed with a view to re-initiated exploration drilling plans in H2 2023, with the focus to increase Kouroussa’s current reserves base of 647,000oz at 4.15g/t.
”I would like to thank all our dedicated Kouroussa project team and multiple construction partners in achieving this outstanding outcome. Our operations team is now focused on safely ramping up towards name plate production, expected during H2-2023.” said Mr. Belts.
To find out more, please visit www.hummingbirdresources.co.uk.
