Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) has appointed four key managers to accelerate development of the 3.02-milllion-ounce Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, which is on track to be West Africa's next gold mine.
Today’s announcement marks the first in a series of appointments set to help bring the West African mine into production.
All four newly appointed personnel have commenced their roles and are currently in Côte d’Ivoire working on early-stage mine development.
Earthworks manager
Guillaume Hubert has been appointed earthworks manager and boasts more than 30 years of experience in major earthworks projects.
For the past 10 years, he has worked on West African assets and completed projects for Nordgold and Endeavour Mining Corp (TSE:EDV) (OTCMKTS:EDVMF).
Most recently, Hubert worked with West African Resources Ltd (ASX:WAF) (OTCMKTS:WRFSF) (FRA:W25) on the Sanbrado project.
Construction manager
New construction manager Daniel Kotzee has worked on West African projects for more than 15 years.
Before this role, he was the construction manager on West African Resources’ Sanbrado project and prior to this, he held senior roles at Nordgold and Resolute Mining Limited (ASX:RSG) (OTCMKTS:RMGGF) (LON:RSG) (FRA:RSM).
Commercial manager
Tietto’s new commercial manager Hesbon Okwayo brings more than 15 years of experience in mining construction and operations.
He started his career in East Africa on construction projects in Kenya and Tanzania before moving to West Africa with Lycopodium Limited (ASX:LYL).
In this role, he worked on the Bissa Gold Project for Nordgold and the Agbou project for Endeavour.
After this, Hesbon then moved to Nordgold for the Bouly Project and most recently, he was commercial manager at West African Resources’ Sanbrado project.
HSE superintendent
Beatrice Godde, a qualified emergency nurse with 20 years of experience in West Africa, has been appointed health safety environment (HSE) superintendent.
In the past, she has held senior HSE roles for Nordgold on the Bissa and Bouly projects and also for West African Resources on the Sanbrado Project.
Next steps
Tietto expects to announce further key appointments to the market in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, the West African gold explorer and developer is rapidly advancing the Abujar project during its June quarter work program.
Key activities slated for this quarter include front end engineering and design works and the start of site and camp construction.
More broadly, Tietto is on track to deliver a definitive feasibility study for the Abujar gold play in 2021’s third quarter.
In regulatory terms, the ASX-lister has already secured all necessary mining and environmental approvals to get the project off the ground.
It is currently finalising negotiations with the Ivorian Government — the final regulatory step in Abujar’s development.