Friday 12 August 2016 12:26 pm

Junior gold miner Hummingbird Resources taps up fund manager Fidelity

Aim-listed gold miner Hummingbird Resources has tapped fund manager Fidelity for $4m (£30.86m) as part of its latest funding round.

Hummingbird said today that it's placed 11.1m new shares at 26p each. Investor interest has been stirred by a near 30 per cent jump in bullion prices this year.

This comes after a £45.8m fundraising earlier this year, which bought on other blue-chip investors such as Capital Group, Odey Asset Management and Pala Investments.

Private placings involve the issue of securities that aren't sold through a public offering directly to a specific investor, who will sometimes ask for tougher terms.

Hummingbird is currently working on the construction of its Yanfolila gold project, 200km south of the Malian capital Bamako. It's targeting production of 130,000oz of gold in 2017, providing $70m of free cash flow in its first year.

Hummingbird said today that it will use its cash injection to develop the Gonka deposit which is located at the Yanfolila project, but isn't currently included in the mine plan.

Dan Betts, managing director of Hummingbird Resources, said: "The additional funds raised through this placing … give us the optionality to unlock additional value at Yanfolila with added flexibility to look at developing additional near mine resources whilst we target production next year."

Shares in Hummingbird Resources were last up 0.49 per cent to 25.50p.