Hummingbird Resources plc has followed up its maiden reserve estimate (see 15 December 2015) at its 85%-owned, Yanfolila gold project, in Mali,with a positive definitive feasibility study (DFS).
The DFS is based on the progressive mining of five open pits to feed ore to a 1.24 Mt/y gravity and carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant which, with an average recovery of 92.5%, will produce up to 120 koz/y of gold. The estimated capital cost of the project is US$79.4 million and operating costs are estimated at US$53.2/t of ore, which equates to cash costs of US$645/oz of gold and all-in sustaining costs of US$720/oz of gold.
Based on the above parameters, the DFS envisages a project IRR of 37% and an NPV (8%) of US$88 million, based on a gold price of US$1,100/oz.
The Yanfolila reserve is 6.82 Mt at a grade of 3.03 g/t for 666 koz of gold contained, which represents a 20% increase from the in-pit resources in last year’s optimisation study. Total attributable resources are 18.8 Mt at a grade of 2.54 g/t for 1.54 Moz of gold contained.
Hummingbird has agreed a US$75 million debt facility with Taurus Mining and mine construction is now underway with the aim of commencing production in H1 2016.
Hummingbird Resources release positive feasibility study for Yanfolila : HUM