Pre-production mining has commenced on schedule at Hummingbird Resources’ Yanfolila gold project in Mali which is on track for its first gold pour by the end of 2017. Highlights:
- Pre-production mining by contract fleet, African Mining Services (AMS) has commenced on schedule
- Ore to be stockpiled in advance of its introduction to the process plant in Q4 2017
- Process plant construction and associated infrastructure remain on budget and schedule – commissioning anticipated in Q4 2017
- Yanfolila is forecast to produce 132,000 oz gold in its first full year of production at a Life of Mine (LoM) All in Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $695/oz
- Average production of 107,000oz/y of gold over the LoM in tandem with exploration and development initiatives to expand the current mine plan
Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird, commented: “Commencement of mining activities at Yanfolila is a significant milestone for Hummingbird as we continue to bring the project closer to production by the end of this year. Our contract mining partner, AMS, has mobilised a significant fleet to site and this commitment emphasises the momentum the Project has gained throughout the year.
“As we enter the final months of construction we remain on time and budget for first gold by the end of 2017. We will look to build on the current momentum as we ramp up to full scale mining and production.”
Pre-production mining is now underway and due to ramp up over the next three months as Hummingbird approaches full scale operations. By the end of November it is anticipated that over three million tonnes of material will have been moved. AMS currently has the following equipment on site at Yanfolila:
- One Liebherr 9150 excavator
- One Liebherr 9250 excavator
- Six Caterpillar 777 trucks
- Five Caterpillar D9 dozers
- One Caterpillar 336 excavator
- Two Caterpillar 980 wheel loaders.
During the first phase of mining there will be areas of free dig material as well as material that will require light blasting. Blasting will be conducted using non-electric down-hole delay detonators with ANFO for dry holes and emulsion explosives for wet holes. AEL Mining Services will provide an explosive storage and supply service to AMS.
Advanced grade control drilling to better delineate the orebody and improve planning and ore scheduling to the mill is ongoing together with state of the art Trimble differential GPS and Pix 4D drone mapping for survey and volumetric calculations.
Minesched software is being used for short-term and life of mine scheduling with Blockbuster software being used to update the ore reserve model with advance grade control drilling assay results.