Tietto Forecasts 1.2 Million Ounce Gold Haul in West Africa

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Tietto Minerals is predicting a glittering first six-year haul of 1.2 million ounces of gold at an impressive all-in sustaining cost of US$800 (AU$1197) per ounce as it scales up to full production at its new Abujar Gold Mine on West Africa’s Ivory Coast. The company believes it will set the foundation for its bold estimate by producing 260,000 ounces of gold in its first year.

After completing the ramp-up phase of its Abujar plant-commissioning, the company has swept into full production mode. The first blast of fresh mine rock came on March 14, following an intial gold pour on January 14. The company’s first gold sales were made last month.

Tietto’s gold recoveries of about 95 per cent are in line with the company’s expectations. Grade control and mill production is showing a strong positive correlation to reserves for fresh rock in areas unaffected by depletion, as a result of shallow artisanal mining.

Tietto anticipates a late-April release for its 2023 production and cost guidance and also plans to soon outline updated Abujar mineral resource and mine-life estimates. The company is fully-funded, unhedged and has no debt, leaving it to drive into free cash generation.

The current resource at Abujar is 3.45 million ounces of gold. But the company expects its gold resources to grow after it completed 128,000m of drilling in 2022 and with a further 120,000m planned for this year.

The Abujar gold processing plant has a nameplate capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per annum and operates using grid power. It has performed well on near-surface oxide gold ore, processing more than 11,000 tonnes a day. Tietto now also expects to achieve nameplate capacity with its fresh rock gold ore in the June quarter of this year as its mining campaign progresses below the weathered zone.

Additionally, after the project was delivered on time and below budget, Tietto’s chief operating officer Matthew Wilcox has been appointed as an executive director in addition to his existing role.

Mr Wilcox previously delivered the 250,000-ounce-per-annum Sanbrado gold mine ahead of schedule and budget for West African Resources. He also worked on the construction and operation of a number of large carbon-in-leach and heap-leap gold mines in West Africa and Russia.

The Abujar gold project is located close to good regional and local infrastructure and about 90 per cent of its tenements, which cover 1114 square kilometres, remain unexplored. The tenements feature a north to north-east-trending gold corridor with more than 70km of strike within the company’s ground.

Tietto’s current mining tenement covers an area of 120 sq km and it is progressing studies into the heap-leach potential for a substantial second mine at Abujar.

The Ivory Coast produced 41.85 tonnes of gold in 2021 with expectations rising to 65 tonnes in 2025. The area currently hosts six operating gold mines with three more under development.

Gold deposits in the region are hosted in the Archean-aged West African Craton. It is geologically-similar to Western Australia’s Yilgarn Craton, which is home to a solid slice of the State’s mineral wealth.

Tietto has climbed a mountain in Africa, taking its Abujar project from just an encouraging exploration play to an operating gold mine in just a few short years – something many of its ASX-listed peers could only dream about.

Courtesy: www.thewest.com.au