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MINING |Tietto Minerals
TIETTO M Fast tracking the development of gold assets in West Africa
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MINERALS
MINING |Tietto Minerals
Tietto Minerals successfully floated on the ASX in January 2018, raising $6 million through the issue of 30 million shares in its IPO. After seven years under private operation the decision to go public was made in September 2017 by the board of directors – whom collectively boast over a century of experience in mineral exploration. Tietto’s story began in 2010 with two projects in Liberia before expanding into Côte d’Ivoire two years later, following the conclusion of the Ivorian crisis. Since then, progress in Côte d’Ivoire has taken place at a fast pace, spearheaded by the rapid development of Tietto’s flagship Abujar gold project, where the company’s current JORC resource originates from. The first exploration licence of the Abujar project was applied for by Tietto with its
was very clear to us where the mineralisation
joint venture partner in March 2014, and by
was taking place at Abujar,” says Tietto’s
September of the same year the company
managing director Caigen Wang. “At least a
received a license for the middle tenement
portion of the mineralisation is shown at the
- which hosts the JORC Resource and
surface by previous artisanal workings.”
numerous drilling targets. Therefore, it has been somewhat fortuitous “Due to previous large-scale artisanal
for Tietto that the prior work of small-
workings around a few kilometres strike, it
scale artisanal miners across the tenement
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has exposed mineralisation at surface,
artisanal workings clearly show part of the
particularly as Wang proposes that the
mineralisation from surface and heading
average time taken to identify mineralisation
downwards. That’s one of the main reasons
at a grassroots exploration project is usually
why we are progressing the Abujar project so
around two years.
rapidly.”
“In the case of Abujar, we save at least two
JORC Inferred Resource
years in identifying mineralisation before
The maiden JORC Inferred Resource
starting resource definition drilling, as the
estimation of 10.4 Mt @ 2.1 g/t Au for
MINING |Tietto Minerals
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BRINGING MORE TO MINING 703,600 oz was delivered in December 2016
a strike length of 1,000 metres – an exciting
from 13,000 metres of drilling within a small
result indeed.
portion of known artisanal working areas in the middle tenement.
The next step for Tietto is to target a new resource area to the South of the main
Since this announcement, the company has
resource: “Our recent drilling beyond the
continued drilling several new targets within
strike of the existing JORC resource towards
the tenement with the aim of further building
the South gave us very good intersections
the resource. Over the last four years, all
and multiple drilling targets for further
drilling activity has been conducted by major
resource definition.
West African contractor Geodrill, with the most recent campaign completed in Q1 2018.
“But the few holes we drilled at a shallow depth of 50 metres gave us very good
The Q1 campaign focused on digging
intersections. The areas named Pischon
deeper holes in the current JORC Resource
South and Golikro will form our next major
area and delivered some very positive and
increase in resources.”
encouraging results according to Wang. Tietto managed to hit high grade gold intercepts at
For these upcoming drill programmes, Tietto
an extended depth of 200-250 metres over
has elected Ausdrill as its drilling partner of
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choice. Ausdrill has been operating in West
provide a high grade gold mine is there for
Africa for many years, but only recently
all to see, but how viable is Côte d’Ivoire as a
expanded their business into Côte d’Ivoire.
mining jurisdiction?
Tietto will become their first drilling service client in the nation, when they undertake the
The mining industry was only meaningfully
next round of drilling for over 50,000 metres.
opened up to foreign investors in 2014, when a new mining code was introduced. The
Overall, the short-term target for Tietto at
new code stipulated a range of legislative
Abujar hinges on further expanding the
measures including an attractive five-year
resource, which could potentially be doubled
corporate tax free exemption for mining
or even tripled up to around two million
companies, followed by a 25% corporate tax
oz before the company commences a pre-
rate and a 3% government royalty rate.
feasibility study.
Operating in Côte d’Ivoire
“Cote d’Ivoire was already a relatively developed country in Africa, [before the new mining code] particularly in West Africa. The
With high grade mineralisation being
country has very good infrastructure thanks
identified with every additional drill
to its very developed agricultural industry.”
programme, the potential for Abujar to
MINING |Tietto Minerals
The gold mining sector is also well
the fact the artisanal mining provides the
established, with five mines currently
only means of income for many vulnerable
producing and operated by a number of
citizens.
international companies including Endeavour Mining and Randgold Resources. These
Supporting local people
mines produced approximately 800,000 oz
“In order to provide support to local people
of gold last year. “So, we do have numerous
who operate in small-scale artisanal mining,
good examples of modern mining operations
the government has set up special zones
producing gold in Cote d’Ivoire,” Wang adds.
which are only for small-scale mining licenses. So, for the major licence areas, no
Furthermore, the Ivorian Government,
small-scale mining activity should take place.
particularly the Ministry of Mines, has been working hard to manage the sensitive issue
“Likewise, within the designated areas for
of small-scale and illegal mining within the
small-scale mining activities, no company
country’s mineral belts.
is allowed to apply for major exploration licenses,” explains Tietto’s managing director.
In response to conflict-driven mining practises, the government has not been
Tietto itself is also supporting local people
afraid to use military force in order to dispel
through its company employment policy.
and close down illegal operations, however
“The first thing we did was try to maximise
the government is also acutely aware of
the local employment of our geologists and
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MINING |Tietto Minerals
technicians working on the ground. Whether
Cestos projects were resumed in March 2018
they are full time or casual, they are all
after an extended hiatus.
Ivorian. The geological foundations of the projects are “Ivorian geologists have good expertise due
sound, with significant gold mineralisation
to their training and work experience with
identified over a long distance of strike from
a number of major international mining
the company’s preliminary work at both
companies that operate in Cote d’Ivoire,
projects. However, Tietto has its work set
Burkina Faso and Mali,” he continues.
out in Liberia, with both projects located in a remote part of the country.
“We have a local specialised technical team of personnel available in the country which is
Wang admits that infrastructural
our first choice for our employment.”
development in the region is minimal,
The Liberian projects With the rapid pace of development taking
therefore significant improvements will need to be made to support the potential gold mining operations.
place in Cote d’Ivoire, it is easy to forget that Tietto’s original projects are in neighbouring
“Nonetheless, the progress has been quite
Liberia. Field activities at the Dube South and
significant this year and we are going to
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announce our results in September/October.
into other parts of the region, but for now the
Our aim for the Liberian projects is to define
MD is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
a minimum of three drilling targets for each project before the next dry season which is
“As a mining engineer myself, I believe that
November this year.
the company’s primary purpose is to build a producing mine. That’s our current aim
“At that time, we will arrange a test drill
and we are quite confident that with the
campaign for both Liberian projects with
advanced status of our Abujar project and
multiple drilling targets on each project.
the related upside there, as well as the two
Overall, we are confident that we should have
Liberian projects, we will be able to build a
good success on each of the two projects.”
mine or mines in West Africa in a few years’ time.”
As a West Africa-focused junior explorer, Wang reveals that Tietto does harbour motives to expand its mineral exploration
ASX:TIE
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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