Aim-listed Hummingbird Resources says construction of its second gold mine, Kouroussa, in Guinea, is more than 50% complete, and remains on time and budget to achieve first gold by the end of June next year.

Once operational, the mine will more than double Hummingbird’s production profile.

The company says construction of the mine so far has included the erection of five carbon-in-leach (CIL) tanks and two leach tanks, the completion of a plant workshop and processing plant store, the commissioning of a tower crane, mining camp earthworks, building and camp infrastructure, as well as civil works related to various mine services such as milling, reagents, detox and ore crushing.

Hummingbird assures stakeholders that all long-lead items for the mine have been ordered and are due to be installed before the end of the year, including a jaw crusher, CIL agitators, a mineral sizer, a vibrating grizzly apron feeder, slurry and water pumps, and a semi-autogenous grinding mill.

The company is also in the process of finalising the mine plan, a mining contract award, overall mining and power infrastructure implementation plans and active recruitment for key operational positions.

In the meantime, Hummingbird has received final assay results from an infill drilling programme it conducted in 2021, which were not included in a resources and reserves update the company published in June this year.

These final assay results relate to 27 drill holes totalling 4 138 m at Kouroussa’s key deposit, Koekoe.

Notable drill results from Koekoe include 9 m of gold grading 32.6 g/t from 116 m and 12.3 m of gold grading 13.84 g/t from 70 m.

These, coupled with prior high-grade results, continue to demonstrate Kouroussa’s significant gold endowment – multiple high-grade zones that remain open at depth and provide further corroboration of the updated block model.

The new assays will feed into Hummingbird’s updated resources and reserves statement, which will be published in the first half of next year.