Tietto Minerals Announces New Nine-Year Life Plan for Abujar Gold Mine
Abujar Gold Mine: A New Chapter
Australia based mining company Tietto Minerals has commenced commercial production at the Abujar gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. This comes less than 18 months after construction activities began for the Abujar process plant. The mine, located 30km from Daloa in central western Côte D’Ivoire, consists of three contiguous exploration tenements covering a total land area of 1,114km2.
In the June 2023 quarter, Tietto Minerals reported production of 15,592oz of gold at the Abujar mine. The mill throughput surpassed the definitive feasibility study rate of four million tonnes per annum (tpa) last month. In June, the mill throughput reached peak rates exceeding 16,000 tonnes per day and is expected to exceed the nameplate capacity in the second half of this year.
Management’s Future Outlook
Reflecting on the progress, Tietto Minerals managing director and CEO Matt Wilcox said, ‘We are pleased to have reached this milestone at Abujar in less than 18 months after commencing earthworks on the process plant and I thank all members of the team for their efforts in achieving this result. Mining rates increased markedly during the quarter and we anticipate delivering strong net cash flow over the second half as we optimize mining and milling after achieving commercial production during June.’
The company is undertaking a grade control drilling campaign to provide drilling data for at least the next quarter of production. Tietto owns an 88% stake in the project, local partners hold a 2% stake, and the remaining stake is held by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire.
Project Details and Future Projections
The Abujar gold project has total proven and probable mineral reserves of 34.4 million tonnes grading 1.3 g/t gold and mineral resources of 87.5 million tonnes grading 1.2 g/t gold. The project will source feed for the mill from the AG and APG deposits. The AG deposit provides the majority of the value for the operation. The project’s all-in sustaining cost for the same period is projected to be US$982 per ounce. Economically, Abujar is robust with a pre-tax net present value of US$1.06 billion and post-tax NPV5 of US$853 million at a gold price of US$1,900 per ounce.
In light of the updated reserves, Tietto Minerals has announced a new nine-year life-of-mine plan. The company projects that the mine will produce an average of 170,000 ounces of gold per year from 2024 to 2032, totaling an estimated 1.53 million ounces.