Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) chief Dan Betts delivered what he described as a “very pleasing piece of upside” with a desk-top study that revealed the potential of the Gonka deposit next to the Yanfolila gold project in Mali.
The results were announced alongside a funding update as the firm said the Taurus Mining Finance Fund had agreed a one-month extension to a US$15mln bridge facility, which now runs to March 8.
Investors will be buoyed by the potential of Gonka, which is just five kilometres from the planned mine.
It adds another 169,000 ounces of the precious metal to the mine life, or US$24mln to the project’s net present value, and enhances the gold grade.
A total of 92,000 ounces of the new resource will come from an open pit at 2.3 grams per tonne, while the remainder, grading around 4 g/t, will come from underground mining.
The average cash cost comes in at US$766 an ounce of gold, while capex for a project that included Gonka is expected to be US$8mln higher at US$87mln.
“This study is early stage; however, we anticipate extensions of the underground resources to increase the size of this deposit even further in the future,” said CEO Betts.
The underground mineralisation remains open, so Hummingbird plans to “define depth extensions, potentially adding to the mine life”.