Tietto Minerals awards design contract for Abujar gold mine plant to Primero Group
Tietto’s strong cash position of $52 million at the end of March will fund its definitive feasibility study for Abujar along with initial project development works.
West African gold explorer and developer Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE) has awarded an engineering design contract for the processing plant at its Abujar gold mine to Perth-based Primero Group.
Under the terms of the contract, Primero will provide all process and engineering design, procurement oversight, field engineering and commissioning services required for the delivery of a safety-compliant and fully-operational plant for the life of the mine.
Tietto managing director Dr Caigen Wang said the contract is another step in the right direction for the mine’s development.
“The award of [this contract] with the definitive feasibility study in progress is strong evidence of our commitment to building this modern and large gold mine in West Africa,” he said.
Early site works including construction of an all-weather access road have been earmarked as part of Tietto’s strategy to fast-track the multi-million ounce development.
The 22km bitumen road will link the national highway (which runs through the Abujar mining exploitation tenement) to the proposed open pit site.
Advancing Abujar
Tietto continues to advance the Abujar project on a number of fronts.
A refurbished SAG mill is on track to be shipped to site in January 2022.
The single‐stage, 11.5 megawatt mill was manufactured in 2008 but never put into operation and has been in storage in Australia for the last 12 years.
Grinding company NCP International will transport the mill components to Johannesburg for a full inspection and repair prior to shipping.
“This opportunistically-secured unused mill [has resulted in a] significant saving on costs from our pre-feasibility capex estimate and removed mill procurement from the critical path,” Dr Wang said.
A 90 kilovolt powerline angle point survey from the township of Daloa to site, approximately 30km away, has also been completed.
Perth‐based electrical engineering company ECG has been managing the grid power extension work through the Abujar pre-feasibility study and powerline corridor angle point survey since late last year.