HUMMINGBIRD Resources is on track to take a controlling 51% stake in gold development firm Pasofino Gold in terms of an agreement between the parties to develop the Dugbe gold project in Liberia.
An earn in agreement giving Pasofino Gold a 49% stake in Dugbe on completion of a feasibility study has a further option which allows Pasofino to increase its project stake to 100%. In order to do this, Pasofino can convert Hummingbird’s 51% stake in Dugbe into a 51% controlling stake in Pasofino.
Hummingbird said today the feasibility study would be completed by April and that initial results showed gold recoveries of between 85% and 91% depending on the process used to extract the gold: carbon in leach or a flotation circuit.
“The completion of the feasibility study will mark a major milestone for Dugbe and complete its journey from being a pure exploration asset to a viable project, with strong project economic fundamentals,” said Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird.
Dugbe contains open pit resources of 57 million tons grading at 1.58 grams a ton and yielding 2.88 million ounces of gold.
In January, Hummingbird said it would produce between 87,000 and 97,000 oz of gold in the current 2022 financial year with an all in sustaining cost of between $1,300 to $1,450 per oz. The company sold 87,558 oz of gold in its 2021 financial year.
Hummingbird is hoping to take overall production to about 200,000 oz a year by the second quarter of its 2023 financial year once it gets its Kouroussa project in Guinea into production.
