Aim-listed Hummingbird Resources’ updated Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant reserves as at June 30 totalled 1.12-million ounces of gold at 3.03 g/t, a 438 600 oz increase from its reserves statement in October 2019.

This update includes a maiden reserve for the Kouroussa mine in Guinea.

The updated reserves include 705 800 oz at 2.57 g/t at the Yanfolila mine, in Mali. The mine’s reserves have increased by 29 700 oz.

The Yanfolila mine reserves include both openpit reserves on six deposits totalling 503 600 oz at 2.30 g/t (including stockpiles) and a maiden underground reserve at Komana East of 202 200 oz at 3.64 g/t.

The Kouroussa mine, in Guinea, has maiden reserves of 408 900 oz at 4.38 g/t.

These reported reserves for Yanfolila and Kouroussa have upside potential as they do not include this year’s drilling campaign of about 68 000 m.

The results of this year's drilling campaign will be included in the 2022 updated company resource and reserve statements, scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2022.

The company's Dugbe mine, in Liberia, has also not been included in this year's company reserves statement.

Hummingbird will provide a more detailed update on the Dugbe reserves once its earn-in partner Pasofino completes a definitive feasibility study in the second quarter of 2022.

“Our exploration strategy in 2020 has delivered Jorc-compliant reserves, extending Yanfolila's life-of-mine (LoM) and delivering a maiden reserve at Kouroussa – our low-cost, high-margin operation, which will more than double Hummingbird's future gold production [and which is] scheduled for first gold pour at the end of the second quarter of 2023.

“This year's exploration campaigns were three times larger in terms of metres drilled than those in 2020, with the focus to further increase our company reserve and resource base in order to achieve the company's ambition of having LoMs in excess of ten years from our assets,” CEO Dan Betts says.