Hummingbird Resources pours first gold at Kouroussa Gold Mine

AIM-listed, Hummingbird Resources has announced first gold pour at the Kouroussa Gold Mine in Guinea on 08 June 2023, ahead of the end of Q2- 2023 schedule and on budget.

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 140 000 ounces (oz) of gold for the first three years of commercial production, and average 100 000 oz per annum over the current life of mine at an AISC profile of c.US$1,000 per oz.

A more detailed update on Group-wide FY-2023 guidance to be provided once Kouroussa is ramping up.

Dan Betts, 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 200,000+ oz pa. Kouroussa is the second mine Hummingbird has built on time and on budget, made up of a construction team of African and predominately (80%) Guinean personnel. 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 focussed on safely ramping up towards name plate production, expected during H2-2023”.

Kouroussa Gold Mine operational updates:

• First gold pour was successfully poured at Kouroussa on 08 June 2023.
• Mining continues in preparation for name plate production expected during H2-2023, with a ROM pad stockpile currently of 120 000 tonnes available for on-going commissioning and ramp-up.
• The Kouroussa processing plant is a one million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity standard carbon-inleach (CIL) plant.
• Comprehensive community engagement plans have been implemented, including daily, monthly and quarterly meetings with local communities and local 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 / 2024, with the focus to increase Kouroussa’s current Reserves base of 647,000 oz at 4.15 g/t.