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How big will it be? That is the question many investors are
pondering as Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) prepares to unveil
a sizeable uplift to the existing resource at its Abujar gold
project, Cote d’Ivoire in mid-October.
Since arriving on the ASX in early 2018, Tietto added 1.5 moz to the RPMGlobal is also managing
Abujar inventory from more than 42,000m of drilling up to November the ESG work programme at
2019. With resource estimators working through all of the data col- Abujar, while Ivorian environ-
lected from a further 61,000m of drilling over the last 12 months, there mental consultancy Envitech
are high expectations the update will reveal a number significantly SARL is undertaking the ESIA
greater than the 2.2 moz currently defined at the project. field studies which are integral
No one is more eagerly awaiting the announcement of the updated for the successful grant of a
resource than Tietto founder and managing director Dr Caigen Wang. mining licence.
“As we speak right now, the final holes have been cut, sampled and the Tietto recently submitted its
assays are with the lab and will soon be with our resource estimators application for a mining licence which remains on track for approval in
for the final calculation,” he said. “They have had to work through quite early 2021, possibly sooner pending the outcome of national elections
a backlog of very good drilling results, but we expect this will all be in Cote d’Ivoire set for October 31.
worth it when we deliver the updated resource model in mid-October.” “We’ll continue to work through that process as required,” Strizek said.
Tietto had been hoping to finalise and publish the updated resource “We recently had meetings with members from SODEMI, which is the
for Abujar by the end of September quarter, however, the announce- geological department of the Government in Cote d’Ivoire where they
ment was pushed back a month to give estimators more time to incor- essentially come out to site, assess and tick off the work you claim
porate the results of an additional 11,000m of drilling – including a very versus what they see in the ground.
high-grade intercept of 21m @ 7.34 g/t gold from 173m (including 4m “The Government is very proactive and they’ve helped set up a
@ 35.08 g/t including 1m @ 134.48 g/t). number of meetings with the local communities to discuss the project
in detail, express any concerns they may have and what areas they
“Conceptually, we see the potential for this to grow would like to see mitigation in. All of this gives us the chance to work on
beyond 5 moz from parallel shears, and to the north a community development plan and environment framework and so,
far it’s all progressing very well.”
and south along the 70km long structural trend. Importantly for Tietto and its stakeholders, exploration drilling will
Matthew Keane, Argonaut continue to be carried out across the company’s extensive 1,114sq km
ground package located about 30km from Daloa, the third largest city
in Cote d’Ivoire, where cheap power is readily available.
The unveiling of the updated resource for Abujar will cap what Wang Contained within the existing resource at Abujar (45.5mt @ 1.5 g/t gold
and executive director Mark Strizek both described as a “transfor- for 2.15 moz) is the main AG deposit (34.3mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 1.81
mational” year for Tietto. Some of the other major highlights for the moz, including a “high-grade core” of 19.3mt @ 2.2 g/t gold for 1.38
company recently include undertaking the largest capital raising in its
history and appointing a number of key contractors for the PFS which
is scheduled for completion in Q1 2021. “Exploration upside is very much evident along strike
As part of the $62.5 million capital raising launched in August, Tietto and at depth, where underground potential could lie.
welcomed high-profile North American specialist fund 1832 Asset Paul Howard, Canaccord Genuity
Management L.P. to its register as a substantial shareholder.
“We weren’t expecting to do such a large raise so soon, but over the
course of this year our market cap moved above $200 million which moz). Satellite deposits such as APG (11.2mt @ 1 g/t gold for 350,000oz)
effectively means you become ‘insto-worthy’, so to speak,” Strizek said. as well as the AG South and GGL prospects which host extensive arti-
“There were a number of institutions who wanted to take sizeable sanal workings also present considerable upside for the company into
the future.
places in the company. So while we’ve had great success with our
shareholders to date and we really welcome their continued support, “It’s been a transformational year and key to our success has been
being able to introduce that next round of gold specialists and so forth having our own drilling fleet of five diamond rigs which allow us to
into the Tietto family puts us on that journey towards potentially the regularly report very good results to the market,” Wang said.
last raise before a final investment decision. “We are pushing the boundaries on all aspects, both along strike and
“Another aspect is being able to negotiate with lenders in a position of vertically at depth. We are absolutely trying to push the limits with our
strength because you now have the market capitalisation and also the drilling and at this stage we’re very happy to report that we haven’t
balance sheet where they will start to look at you seriously.” found our limits yet.”
Tietto will often refer to the upcoming PFS as an “advanced feasibility Tietto’s transformational year also included winning the Junior Invest-
study” and is already looking into arrangements for long-lead items ment Battlefield competition at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape
such as growing the exploration/mining camp, putting down a deposit Town and an invitation to present at the prestigious Beaver Creek Pre-
for a mill and the upgrading of key roads servicing the project. cious Metals Summit for the first time.
A number of key consultants have been engaged to assist the com-
pany with completion of the PFS. David Morgan and the Perth-based
team at Knight Piesold Pty Ltd are overseeing the water and hydro Listen to Mark Strizek present the
management plan, Mintrex Ptd Ltd is taking charge of the metallurgy Tietto Minerals story at Diggers
and plant design, RPMGlobal Holdings Ltd is handling the mining study & Dealers at 1.55pm on Monday
and reserve estimate, while Dempers & Seymour Pty Ltd have all as- October 12, or visit the company
pects of the pit geotechnics covered. at Booth 60 in the exhibition area