Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) has delivered further high-grade gold results from an infill drilling program completed at Abujar‐Gludehi (AG) Deposit, part of the 3.35-million-ounce Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa.
Strong results from AG drilling include:
- 5 metres at 33.86 g/t gold from 38 metres including 1-metre at 164.28 g/t;
- 2 metres at 26.07 g/t gold from 118 metres including 1-metre at 51.33 g/t; and
- 9 metres at 4.61 g/t gold from 137 metres including 7 metres at 5.8 g/t.
Notably, Tietto’s six diamond rigs continue actively drilling, with 100,000 metres planned in 2022 to drive resource growth.
Looking ahead, the company is funded to production with construction progressing on schedule – targeting first gold at Abujar in the December quarter of 2022.
“Dual strategy in 2022”
Tietto managing director Caigen Wang said: “Following on from the fantastic intercept of 1.1 metres at 2,853 g/t gold, our infill drill program continues to add multiple high‐grade gold intercepts at AG Core.
“These assays are from the 10th batch of results received for 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.
“We are incorporating results into the resource model update, due at the end of this quarter.
“We are well positioned to execute our dual strategy in 2022; our Exploration Team has recently commenced 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.”
Drilling at AG core
Results are presented for 44 diamond drill holes totalling 5,794 metres completed as part of Tietto’s infill drilling program which aims to increase confidence in the Abujar mineral resource by upgrading indicated resources to measured resources.
Other strong results from AG core include:
- 16 metres at 2.51 g/t gold from 105 metres including 6 metres at 5.05 g/t; and
- 15 metres at 2.57 g/t from 64 metres including 8 metres at 4.47 g/t.
Gold mineralisation at AG Core remains open at depth well below open pit limits and Tietto will plan further drilling to assess the potential for underground mining at Abujar below the planned DFS open pit.
Financial summary
The second tranche of Tietto’s A$85 million placement was approved by shareholders on January 7, 2022, and shares issued on January 17, 2022.
This capital raising complements Tietto’s debt strategy, where the company mandated Taurus Mining Finance Fund No.2 L.P. to deliver an underwritten project development Facility of up to US$140 million of debt funding for the US$200 million project.
Looking ahead, 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 million (pre-tax) and A$0.97 Billion (post‐tax) using US$1,700 per ounce gold and A$/US$=0.741
Forward plan
Tietto remains very well positioned to advance its dual strategy into 2022:
- Continue to drive rapid resource growth at the 3.35-million-ounce Abujar Gold Project; and
- Fast‐track development of Abujar Gold Project to achieve first gold in December quarter 2022.
The company is negotiating the final regulatory step, the Abujar Mining Convention, with the Ivorian Government, having already secured all mining and environmental approvals.
Tietto’s is advancing the construction of the process plant and associated infrastructure which remains on schedule as the Abujar Gold Project progresses towards first gold by the end of the December quarter and is on track to become West Africa’s next gold mine.