JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Since first gold was poured at Aim-listed Hummingbird Resources' Yanfolila gold mine, in Mali, on December 19, the mine has steadily been ramping up towards full production, in line with the company's planned schedule.
"I am pleased that activity on site is steadily progressing as per the ramp-up schedule and we are on track to achieve nameplate capacity from the plant by the end of the first quarter," Hummingbird CEO Dan Betts commented in a statement published on Friday.
He further highlighted the technical performance of the mine's plant, with recoveries already at over 95% and a "solid performance" of the milling circuit.
This, he enthused, stands the company in good stead as it continues to ramp up the performance of the operation.
A total 10 737 oz of gold has been recovered, to date, of which 5 483 oz has been shipped to refiners.
The company noted that the plant had, initially, been processing ore from the lower-grade stockpiles, in order to ensure plant performance and gold recovery were satisfactory before increasing the head grade.
Now that the plant is running close to nameplate capacity and recoveries remain consistently high, higher-grade ore is increasingly being introduced to the plant.
Meanwhile, the 2018 exploration programme at Yanfolila has also started, with the focus on the conversion of indicated and inferred resources to mineable reserves.
Yanfolila has over one-million ounces of resources outside the mine plan, which Hummingbird is targeting for conversion into reserves. It plans to spend between $8-million and $10-million on exploration this year, but not more than 15% of Hummingbird's operating cash flows from Yanfolila.
The company aims to pursue an aggressive exploration strategy to extend the mine life, which will be controlled by strict financial discipline.