Construction progresses at Tietto Minerals’ Abujar project with first gold pour before year-end

Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE) revealed construction of its Abujar gold operation in Côte d’Ivoire remains on schedule, with first gold pour expected before the end of the year.

Construction progress has been made on the administration office, cafeteria and the first 120 camp rooms.

Meanwhile, the tower stubs for the 34km-long 90kv power line have arrived on site. The SAG mill also remains on track for delivery to the project site next quarter.

Tietto managing director Dr Caigen Wang congratulated the team and contractors for the rapid progress while remaining committed to safety with no lost time injuries recorded.

“The build is tracking on schedule 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.”

Well-funded to advance production and growth

Tietto is fully funded to first production at Abujar after completing an A$85 million placement and executing a US$140 million (A$194 million) debt facility late last year.

The capital expenditure requirement to develop Abujar was outlined in a definitive feasibility published in October last year and is estimated to cost US$200 million (A$278 million), with this figure including US$24 million in contingencies.

Over an 11-year mine life, the study assumes US$2.87 million will be generated during that period based on a US$1,700/oz gold price.

This is expected to produce US$1.28 billion in life of mine pre-tax cash flow.

Rapid resource growth

In parallel with developing Abujar, Tietto has an aggressive exploration program underway to drive rapid resource growth and increase mine life.

A resource upgrade is expected by the end of next month, with recent assays returning bonanza intervals of 1.4m at 262.59 grams per tonne gold and 1.1m at 2,853g/t gold.

Assays are pending from a further 25 holes drilled for 5,691m.

Abujar currently has 3.35Moz in contained gold resources.