Page 60 - pd296-August21-mag-web

AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR PReVIeW

production clock starts ticking

for Tietto

est Africa’s next major gold mine 10-year mine life, including 200,000 ozpa Nameplate throughput will be increased
Wcould be operational before the end of in the first year. Capex for development of to 4 mtpa in the DFS after Tietto was able
2022 if Tietto Minerals Ltd continues to stay the 3.5 mtpa operation is estimated at $230 to secure an unused mill for Abujar. Wilcox,
the course with its aggressive development million, with payback occurring as quick as who also built the 4 mtpa Bissa and 8 mtpa
plan for the Abujar project in Cote d’Ivoire. 2.4 years after first gold. Bouly operations, described the purchase
Tietto has set an ambitious target of The PFS was based on a reserve of as “quite a boon” and said it would amount
pouring first gold from Abujar within the 15.7mt @ 1.7 g/t gold for 860,000oz, but Ti- to higher processing capability for a much
next 18 months despite still being in the etto is preparing for a “material” increase to lower cost.
pre-development phase. Tenders are out that estimate in the upcoming DFS after last “The mill is the heart of the process plant.
for early site works and other construction- month upgrading the resource to 87.5mt @ If you get the mill right and you size the mill
related activities, while a DFS is due at the 1.2 g/t gold for 3.35 moz, of which more right, you will never have a problem with the
end of next month. than 55% is now classified as indicated. amount you need to process,” he said.
The development timeline might appear “It was really pleasing to see an almost “No one ever blames you when a mill is
too tight for some, but Tietto managing di- 50% jump in the indicated resource cat- bigger than it needs to be. It’s much hard-
rector Caigen Wang has full confidence in egory, which was the focus of our drilling,” er and more expensive to expand a plant
his team to deliver the project according to Wang said. “We also had an 11% growth down the track so if you can build in that
script. In fact, he believes his company is al- in the quantity overall, which is also pleas- extra capacity early it makes it a whole lot
ready tracking ahead of schedule in certain ing because we were not aiming for any re- easier. I’ve done that with every plant I’ve
areas of the process. source growth. built because you’re always trying to in-
Speaking to Paydirt last month after an- “We are now expecting a much bigger crease the throughput. WAF achieved that
nouncing a resource upgrade for Abujar, uplift in the reserve compared to what we higher throughput and I think we’ll be able to
Wang pointed to a number of the compa- delivered in the PFS.” push above nameplate.”
ny’s past achievements as evidence the With the DFS nearing completion,
proposed development timeline was no- Tietto recently upgraded the resource at Abujar Wang indicated discussions with poten-
where near as ambitious as some outsid- to 87.5mt @ 1.2 g/t gold for 3.35 moz, including tial debt providers would start to ramp up
ers might think. a 49% boost in indicated resources to 43.4mt over the coming months so Tietto can
“Normally in our situation people will @ 1.3 g/t for 1.85 moz seamlessly move into the mine construc-
wait until the DFS is completed before tion phase without having to wait for pro-
progressing on the project development ject financing to be sorted.
side, but we are achieving well ahead of The rigs will also keep turning at Abu-
our DFS,” Wang said. jar with the company looking to complete
“We completed our processing plant 50,000m of diamond drilling before the
DFS at the end of May to give us a very end of the year. The programme will in-
good technical background to proceed clude infill drilling at the main AG deposit
with processing plant development targeting the first two years of production
and other long-term items for the mine and resource growth from drill testing of
construction. So, we are well ahead of targets within 10km of the mill.
schedule in that area of project develop- “I’m very happy with the performance
ment. of our drilling team,” Wang said. “The
“If you look at our track record since six diamond rigs we have on site are
September 2014 – when we received the averaging between 7,000m and almost
exploration licence – up until now, in less 12,000m per month. The performance is
than seven years we’ve developed from exceeding our expectations.”
nothing on the tenement to a 3.35 moz Wang said the fact three gold mines
resource and a DFS coming in Septem- – Sissingue, Yaore and Ity – have been
ber. I think the speed we’ve had in the switched on in Cote d’Ivoire during the
past demonstrates our capacity to de- very recent past was a good sign for Ti-
liver the project.” etto as the countdown begins to first gold
The Abujar build is being led by Tietto from Abujar.
chief operations officer Matthew Wilcox, “The West African region is definitely
who was responsible for construction of one of the best gold investment destina-
three other gold mines in West Africa tions in the world and a number of big-
during the past decade, including West sized gold mines have been built in the
African Resources Ltd’s 300,000 ozpa last few years,” he said. “That gives us
Sanbrado mine in Burkina Faso. really good confidence we can follow in
According to the PFS published in their footsteps to develop another one.”
April, Abujar is forecast to produce an
average 168,000 ozpa over the initial – Michael Washbourne

Page 60 aUgUST 2021 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT