Hummingbird Resources has provided an update on its extensive 2021 exploration drilling programme at the Sanioumale West (“SW”) and greenfield deposits, Kama and Diaban, at the Yanfolila gold mine in Mali (pictured).
The company has received and analysed c.12,800 metres of multiple assays from the SW deposit and assays from the initial drilling completed at greenfield deposits Kama, and has now completed its 44,000m 2021 exploration drilling programme at Yanfolila.
Yanfolila currently hosts a sizeable Resources and Reserves profile of 1.93 million oz and 705,800 oz respectively.
Results show significant grade and depth, such as 8 metres at 20.82 grams a ton at the SW deposit, highlighting upside potential to the deposits’ current Resources and Reserves profile (164,200oz and 50,400oz respectively).
Kama and Diaban are two new greenfield targets receiving their first round of drill testing, showing the potential to establish new resources at these deposits. Notable drill results from the SW deposit include:
▪ 8m at 20.28 g/t from 61m (SNWRC0482)
▪ 7m at 12.18 g/t from 14m (SNWRC0506)
▪ 6m at 5.53 g/t from 76m (SNWRC0514)
▪ 7m at 4.98 g/t from 40m (SNWRC0507)
▪ 5m at 3.72 g/t from 40m (SNWRC0482)
▪ 6m at 3.67 g/t from 72m (SNWRC0490)
▪ 31m at 3.32 g/t from 55m (SNWRC0500)
▪ 20m at 2.96 g/t from 23m (SNWRC0501)
▪ 7m at 2.91 g/t from 165m (SNWRC0494)
▪ 5m at 2.57 g/t from 78m (SNWRC0491)
▪ 15m at 2.59 g/t from 97m (SNWRC0506)
▪ 5m at 2.02 g/t from 13m (SNWRC0483)
▪ Notable initial drill results from the Kama and Diaban deposits include:
▪ 4m at 4.47 g/t from 59m (KARC0020)
▪ 3m at 3.87 g/t from 35m (KARC0019)
▪ 1m at 4.0 g/t from 23m (DBRC0049)
▪ 1m at 2.11 g/t from 16m (KARC0002)
The 2021 SW drilling has been focussed on extending the Inferred Mineral Resources and testing for additional and new Mineral Resources extensions. To date, the SW drill results show high-grade mineralisation exists and remains open at depth
Greenfield drilling is at the reconnaissance stage at the Kama and Diaban deposits where the focus has been on testing for mineral resource potential and testing of gold mineralisation along a prospective regional structure respectively. The Greenfield drilling results show:
The company is analysing future exploration potential in these areas, in particular at Kama, to further prove up their resource potential.
Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird Resources, said: “With today’s positive drilling results from SW, in addition to the greenfield drilling results, we see potential for additional Resources and Reserves growth, taking us one step closer to the company’s strategic goal of achieving a +10-year Reserve mine life at Yanfolila.”
Noris Del Bel Belluz, Group Technical Services Manager of Hummingbird Resources, said these results continue to show the potential for ongoing increases in Resources and Reserves at Yanfolila.
Now that this year’s extensive drilling campaign at Yanfolila has concluded, its geology team is interpreting these assay results, and those to come, to delineate additional Reserve and Resource ounces for the exploration drilling campaign in 2022, all of which will be included in our updated 2022 company resources and reserves statement, scheduled for release in Q2 2022.
Following on from the successful 2020 mineral resource infill drill programme at SW, the focus for the 2021 drilling has been to follow up on the open-ended mineralisation that could lead to further open pit extensions, and which would increase the mineable reserves available to add to the operation’s life of mine plan; 44 holes were drilled and as per the included sections, these were targeting down dip or along strike extensions below the current pit design or below the base of the modelled inferred mineral resources.
Due to the targeted nature of the drilling, many good intersections were recorded. Only the higher-grade southern portion of the 2.5-kilometre-long SW structure was drilled tested, with further drilling required to infill the northern portions of the structure and continue drill testing at depth of the higher-grade zones along the southern end of the SW structure.
The current Mineral Resources at SW are made up of a significant portion of lower grade material ideally suited to heap leaching, as shown in recent bottle roll metallurgical test work. By including and targeting these lower grade resources in addition to the high grade CIL feed material, there exist many targets to continue growing the mineral resource and its mineable reserves. Drill testing at SW is still relatively shallow. An increased understanding of the mineralisation controls and gold distribution at deposit will assist in its growth as an important ore source for the operation, which has recently started to be mined.
2021 Greenfield drill programme summary – Kama & Diaban
As part of the LOM extension strategy, two new targets, Kama and Diaban, were drill tested to evaluate their Mineral Resource potential.
At Kama, where historical shallow artisanal workings existed along the same structure hosting the Soloba mineralisation and the Komana West deposit, 21 RC holes on a line spacing of 80m were drilled for 1,800m. In each drill section, narrow zones of mineralisation were intersected, confirming the existence of a mineralised system underlying the area. The third and northern most drill section intersected two shallow and separate mineralised intervals that remain open to the north and not drill tested to date.
The Diaban drilling was testing a conceptual target over a 1.5-km-long portion of the regional Siekorole Shear Zone (near its intersection with the Sankarani Shear Zone upon which Gonka, Komana East and Sanioumale East deposits are located). This drilling intersected gold mineralisation, a highly positive sign that the structure is connected to a mineralised system. Further study and analysis of the drill results, the RC chips and exploration data sets is required before further follow up drilling can be planned in 2022.
