Hummingbird Resources was founded by Mr Betts, a former management consultant, and his father, Stephen Betts, as a result of contacts they had in Liberia.

Stephen Betts, the latest in the family line at the helm of Betts Metals, had dealt with the Minister for Land and Mines in Liberia, and was offered some options on exploration licences covering about 7,000 sq km – about 173,000 acres – in eastern Liberia.

Dan Betts had planned to sell them to mining companies, but with Liberia emerging from a second civil war in 15 years there were few takers. He explained: “I intended to sell the options to mining companies – but they all laughed at us.

“They said the country had just come out of civil war and nobody knows if there is anything there.

“So we spend five years doing the hard work and putting the infrastructure in place to operate there and started sampling vast swathes of virgin jungle to find gold.”

He added: “At the start, when you are offering to pay for the right to search around in a jungle to find gold, they are more than happy with you.

“That costs about half a million dollars a year and then when you have to get an exploring licence and agree a mineral development agreement, which covers all of the tax treatment and things like that.

“Now we are looking to invest £200 million to create 1,000 jobs.”

At the end of a year that has seen more than three million ounces of gold discovered, Mr Betts is now starting the process of getting it out of the ground.

He said it would require a large-scale multi-pit – a minimum of two pits, but could be many more, which would all supply ore to a plant that will be built on site to process in the region of six and eight million tonnes a year.

In terms of the cost, Mr Betts admitted it was a case of “how long is a piece of string?” – but estimated between £185 million and £216 million. It will take about 18 months for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies to take place, before work can start to build the mine.

He said: “We have enough prospects to keep us going for 20 years but at some point you have to hold these ounces to account and prove they are real. Exploration is expensive – mining is where you make money.

“It is a balance of deciding when enough is enough. Now we have found 3.8 million ounces we have enough to build a mine so we are in the process of raising finance to start proving this through a series of feasability studies, before actually building the gold mine.

“And at the same time there are another x number of million ounces so we have to keep exploring.”

He added: “I have got no ambition whatsoever to get out.

“By skill, hard work or just blind luck we have found gold that will be recognised around the world and put Liberia on the map in terms of gold.

“I am going to build the mine by whatever means necessary.

“I don’t believe something of this size can be ignored by major mining companies forever but if we can raise the money then we can do it ourselves.”

Mr Betts said even without starting the process of mining he has enough funding in place to continue discovery work “all guns blazing” for 12 months.

He said he has several options in terms of funding – returning to shareholders, approaching mining companies or going to the institutions that specialise in development funding in developing markets.

“If we were to approach a mining company that could help with credibility or if we got somebody of the stature of say the African Development Bank on board it would help with any possible political issues,” he said.

Despite the fears of larger mining companies over Liberia, which was ravaged by civil war from 1989 to 1996 and then 1999 to 2003, Mr Betts said he had come across few political problems.

Political stability in Liberia has helped to provide a firm footing for work to take place after president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected for a second term last year.

The wider problem is the lack of skills and education as a result the wars. Latest figures, from 2003, show Liberia has an unemployment rate of 85 per cent.

But Mr Betts said he had nothing but positive things to say about his experiences in West Africa, and he believed now was the time to invest.

“I have a different view about African political risk,” he said. “Most people say it is a disaster and we shouldn’t go anywhere near it but I would say that is why we should.

“They really need us now – the skills and investment and revenue – if they had got all of that then they wouldn’t need us. I have had nothing but positive experiences in Liberia.”

With education levels in the country impeded by years of civil war, Mr Betts admitted he had to rely on expats to carry out the major roles.

However, the firm sponsors 20 people a year to get a university education and Mr Betts said he was pleased that the business would help to create jobs for up to 1,000 Liberians.

Closer to home, Mr Betts admits he enjoys the novelty of a Jewellery Quarter business making waves in the global gold-mining sector.

He said: “From the Birmingham perspective I think it is awesome that a business has come out of the Jewellery Quarter and found gold itself.

“Exploration is a worldwide business and there are billions of dollars spent around the world exploring. The big centres are in Toronto, New York, London and Australia and little old Hummingbird has made one of the biggest finds in the world from the Jewellery Quarter – I think that is quite cool.

“Personally, it has been a monumental gamble,” he added.

“I have put five years of my life into a hare-brained venture, and it has been a 100 per cent gamble. I didn’t pay myself for the first three years.

“But I am very aware that I was very privileged to have a back-up plan and the family business hasn’t been put at risk.

“My dad and the family have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds and if it all went wrong it wouldn’t bring the house down but it does weigh heavily on my shoulders that friends and family have invested in my venture.”
Courtesy of Birmingham Post