Hummingbird Resources PLC (LON:HUM) has said pre-production mining at its Yanfolila gold project in Mali is on schedule to commence in the third-quarter of 2017 following delivery of a Ball mill from Europe, with the contract mining fleet also arriving on site.
In its latest construction update statement, the AIM-listed firm said “all aspects of construction continue to progress on time and on budget with first gold pour due before the end of 2017.”
By mid morning, Hummingbird shares were still 2.1p higher at 24.25p.
READ: Hummingbird Resources Mali gold mine on time and on budget
Dan Betts, Hummingbird’s CEO, added: "As the longest lead item, the delivery of the ball mill to site is a significant milestone for Hummingbird and further de-risks the delivery of the project's critical path."
In a note to clients today, analysts at Beaufort said: ”We continue to be encouraged with the pace of progress being made at the Yanfolila as the project remains on time and within budget.
“We look forward to further updates as pre-production mining is planned to commence in Q3 2017. We also note that once Yanfolila is in production, operating costs (AISC) are expected to be US$695/oz with 132,000oz of gold produced in the first full year's production.”
Beaufort maintained a ‘Speculative Buy’ rating on the stock.
Last month Hummingbird put in place the last piece of the funding jigsaw by securing a US$60mln debt facility with West Africa-focused lender, Coris Bank.
Investors have already contributed US$71mln to the construction. The mine itself, which is host to an estimated 1.8mln ounces of gold, is expected to churn out 132,000 ounces of the yellow metal in the first 12 months.
-- Adds broker comment, updates share price --