Aim-listed Hummingbird Resources says the Kouroussa gold mine processing plant has reached the practical completion stage and has entered the commissioning phase towards achieving first gold pour later this quarter.

The Kouroussa gold mine, in Guinea, is a high-grade, over 4 g/t openpit operation, and is the company’s second operating gold asset in West Africa.

Practical completion on priority systems at the Kouroussa processing plant has now been achieved, allowing the commissioning phase to begin.

Pre-operational and cold commissioning is currently under way and, once completed, will move to the hot commissioning phase, followed by the first gold pour.

Soutex, Kouroussa’s engineering contractor, along with specialist Hummingbird commissioning personnel, are working together on site to coordinate the commissioning phase.

Sufficient ore feed tonnes are on the run-of-mine (RoM) pad for commissioning, with mining activities accelerating to provide increased ore feed tonnes on the RoM pad for first gold pour, followed by nameplate production.

Hydrotesting has been completed on the pre-leach, carbon in leach, raw water and reagent tanks, with mechanical equipment pre-operational testing also in progress.

Cold commissioning has started on priority water and air services systems.

Original-equipment manufacturer vendors are on site for dry and wet plant equipment commissioning.

“Kouroussa is on track to pour first gold within the current quarter, and the start of commissioning of the processing plant is a significant step forward in achieving this objective. As we begin the commissioning phase to bring Kouroussa online, we remain heavily focussed on safety at this busy time.

“Additionally, operational readiness and the transition to daily operations is a key part of this phase as we look not just to first gold, but to ramping up production to nameplate capacity, moving the company to being a 200 000-oz-plus, multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction gold producer,” says CEO Dan Betts.