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JULY 2014 • E&MJ; 27 www.e-mj.com NEWS-CONTINUED Based on the recent discovery of the high-grade Wolfshag zone near the planned open pit, B2Gold is building the Otjikoto pro- cessing plant and infrastructure to support a plant expansion from an initial processing capacity of 2.5 million mt/y to 3 million mt/y. When the expansion is complete at the end of 2015, B2Gold expects gold production from the main Otjikoto pit to increase to about 170,000 oz/y. Meanwhile, the compa- ny will rerun its mine plans to include high- er-grade ore from the Wolfshag zone. Hummingbird Acquiring Gold Fields' Mali Assets Hummingbird Resources, a gold explo- ration and development company with assets in Liberia, has entered into a condi- tional sale and purchase agreement to acquire all of Gold Fields Ltd.'s mining and exploration interests in Mali. Gold Field's primary Mali asset is its Yanfolila gold pro- ject in southwest Mail, which has a current mineral inventory of 1.8 million oz of gold at a grade of 2.8 g/mt. Consideration for the acquisition is $20 million payable in Hummingbird ordinary shares. The acquisition is conditional upon approval by Hummingbird shareholders. Hummingbird anticipates that the Yanfolila project can deliver its first gold production by the end of 2015, producing 80,000 oz of gold during its first year of production. Capital expenditures for an ini- tial oxide-only carbon-in-leach operation are estimated at $52 million. The Yanfolila project is fully permitted with a 30-year mining license. Approxi- mately $100 million has been spent on exploration and development of the project to date. Significant exploration potential remains on the project's 3,200 km 2 of exploration ground. The acquisition will include access to Gold Fields' database from 420,000 m of drilling, including identified oxide targets that have already been drilled. Assuming completion of the transac- tion, Gold Fields will become the Hummingbird's largest shareholder, with 26.3% of the enlarged share capital of the company. Gold Fields' Yanfolila manage- ment team will join Hummingbird on com- pletion of the transaction. Dan Betts, managing director of Hum- mingbird, said, "This acquisition will trans- form Hummingbird from a single-project company into a multiproject, near-term pro- ducer. Hummingbird's strategy has always been to create a mid-tier gold company that has a portfolio of assets encompassing exploration, development and production, and this is a major step to fulfill that ambi- tion. We believe Gold Fields' decision to accept Hummingbird shares as considera- tion for the acquisition underlines the poten- tial of the Yanfolila project, our portfolio in Liberia, and their confidence in our ability to bring both projects into production." In Liberia, the definitive feasibility study for Hummingbird's Dugbe 1 project remains on track for completion in the third quarter of 2014. Gold Fields CEO Nicholas Holland said, "Yanfolila is a robust, high-grade project, but the scale of the known resources does not support a Gold Fields-scale operation and is better suited to development by a junior. Due to the quality nature of the asset and Hummingbird's ability to unlock this value, we have sought to retain expo- sure to the upside through a significant shareholding in Hummingbird. We look for- ward to seeing the development of Yanfolila and share in Hummingbird's desire to see it brought to production in the near future." (Regional News-Africa - from p. 18) EMJ_pg04-27_EMJ_pg04-27 7/2/14 1:50 PM Page 27