LONDON (ShareCast) - West Africa-focused gold miner Hummingbird Resources has said it will be able to fund the construction of the Yanfolila project in Mali with a two-phase debt facility worth $75m.

The agreement, reached with Taurus Mining Finance Fund on Monday, will help development of the asset - which is targeting first production by the end of 2015.

Initially, Taurus will provide a $10m bridging facility with an 18-month term - a short-term loan used until more permanent financing is secured - to cover the costs of front-end engineering and design (FEED), engineering, drilling, optimisation studies and equipment.

The company will then use a $75m package to refinance the bridge facility and fund the development costs of Yanfolila.

"We acquired the Yanfolila project to provide us with a fast, simple and low-cost route to production. Securing this financing package so quickly demonstrates the quality of this deal and opens the path to first gold production by the end of next year," said Hummingbird's chief executive Dan Betts.

Yanfolila has a current mineral inventory of 1.8m ounces of gold at 2.8 grams per tonne.

The stock was up 3.2% at 56p by 14:10 on Monday.

BC

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