Hummingbird Resources announces that wet commissioning has commenced and the mill has been pre-commissioned at its Yanfolila gold mine in Mali ahead of first gold pour by the end of 2017. Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird, commented: “Progress is continuing at pace and in line with our schedule.  We are pleased that we have pre-commissioned the ball mill and commenced wet commissioning. I am continually impressed with the quality and professionalism of our team and our construction partners on the ground moving Yanfolila towards first gold pour.”

Dirk Slabbert, President, Sub-Saharan Africa for Outotec, commented: “At Outotec we are pleased to have pre-commissioned this 2 MW ball mill at Yanfolila. This adds to our list of more than 100 installed mills in Sub-Saharan Africa, as another world class installation. The commissioning of the mill is a great milestone in every project.  Outotec is looking forward to continuing our relationship with Hummingbird throughout the lifecycle of this project, with our vast service capabilities available. Everyone from Outotec who was involved in this project, from sales, engineering and execution, is very impressed with the professional manner in which this project has been executed. Hummingbird may be commissioning its first mine, but I believe this is the first of many projects we will execute together.”

The mechanical assembly of the ball mill has been completed and the mill lining has been installed. Both the inching and main drives of the mill are now operational. The variable speed main drive has been operated and tested. All the control and monitoring systems are fully functional and ready for the start of operations. Pre commissioning of the ball mill has now been successfully completed.

Commissioning of the water supply system is complete. Water is now being pumped from the local water source to the raw and process water tanks and the raw water pond, in accordance with the planned commissioning schedule.  The plant water systems have been powered up, tested and wet commissioned. Water has been circulated to the Carbon in Leach circuit and the  tanks are being progressively filled with water. Further areas of the plant will be wet commissioned in the coming weeks. Ore will be introduced to the crushing and milling circuits following on from the successful completion of wet commissioning. This signifies practical completion of the plant and the commencement of ore commissioning ahead of the first gold pour.