Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) has delivered further impressive near-surface gold intersections from infill drilling on the main Abujar shear of the 3.35-million-ounce Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, including bonanza grade hits of 152.26 g/t gold from 37 metres within 10 metres at 16.53 g/t.
The company has intersected shallow high-grade gold at Abujar-Gludehi (AG) Core which will de-risk open pit mining for Abujar with best results including:
- 10 metres at 16.53 g/t gold from 37 metres, including 5 metres at 32.61 g/t;
- 18 metres at 3.67 g/t from 11 metres, including 6 metres at 8.27 g/t;
- 19 metres at 1.65 g/t from 347 metres, including 9 metres at 3.11 g/t; and
- 10 metres at 3.01 g/t from 144 metres, including 5 metres at 5.59 g/t.
At AG South, Tietto continues to hit multiple high-grade intersections, with strong results including:
- 7 metres at 9.78 g/t gold from 181 metres, including 5 metres at 13.50 g/t;
- 10 metres at 3.04 g/t from 105 metres, including 3 metres at 8.34 g/t; and
- 1-metre at 24.73 g/t from 46 metres.
Moving forward, Tietto is funded to production with construction progressing on schedule – targeting first gold at Abujar in the December quarter of 2022.
“De‐risk open-pit mining”
Tietto managing director Dr Caigen Wang, said: “Our eighth batch of results from our infill drilling program at AG has delivered further high‐grade gold intercepts close to the surface that will de‐risk open pit mining at Abujar.
“Our exploration team has now completed the infill drilling program, which was designed to convert indicated resources to measured resources scheduled to be mined over the first two years of production.”
Mineralisation extended
Tietto completed infill drilling at AG on 25 metres line spacing across the AG Core to a depth covering the first two years of gold.
At AG core, high‐grade gold mineralisation extended 150 metres vertical below previous resource drilling with results including 6 metres at 4.28 g/t gold within 10 metres at 2.84 g/t gold from 630 metres
Dr Wang adds: “Down‐dip drilling below AG Core has confirmed the extension of high-grade shoots 150 metres below the previous resource drilling.
“These new results will be incorporated into the upcoming mineral resource update. AG Core remains open at depth and further holes are planned to test the limits of this growing gold system.”
Oblique cross section showing latest drill results at AG Core.
Next steps
Tietto awaits assays for 62 drill holes across 9,465 metres expected in February 2022.
Notably, six diamond drill rigs are actively drilling with the next resource update due to end this quarter.
Abujar DFS demonstrated robust financial results and estimated first-year gold production of 260,000 ounces and 1.2 million ounces over the first six years of Abujar’s 11‐year mine life for an NPV5% A$1.3 billion (pre‐tax) and A$0.97 billion (post‐tax) using US$1,700 per ounce.
Looking ahead, Tietto is funded to production with construction progressing on schedule – targeting first gold at Abujar in the December quarter of 2022.
“West Africa’s next gold mine.”
Dr Wang adds” “With completed settlement of the second tranche of our recent capital raise, we are now fully funded to production at Abujar, which has potential to be one of the largest gold producing mines in Côte d’Ivoire, expected to produce more than 260,000 ounces of gold in the first year and 1.2 million ounces of gold in the first six years.
“We are well-positioned to execute our dual strategy in 2022; our exploration team is planning on drilling 100,000 metres of diamond core this year to drive resource growth, and our build team is advancing construction work on schedule as we develop the Abujar Gold Project into West Africa’s next gold mine.”