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Tietto Minerals grows gold bounty by 40% at Abujar to more than 3 million ounces

Last updated: 19:36 25 Oct 2020 EDT, First published: 19:18 25 Oct 2020 EDT

Tietto Minerals Ltd - Tietto Minerals Ltd reports 40% growth of gold resources at Abujar Gold Project ahead of next MRE update
Both APG and SG occur on the main Abujar Shear within 10 kilometres of its proposed mill adjacent to AG’s high‐grade core

Tietto Minerals Limited (ASX:TIE) has grown the overall gold resource at its Abujar project in central west Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa, by 40% or 870,000 ounces, to 3.02 million ounces with further resource growth likely due to continued strong drilling results.

The overall resource now stands at 81.2 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t for 3.02 million ounces, an increase from the previous estimate of 2.15 million ounces, and the all-in exploration cost is just US$5.20 per additional ounce. 

Most of the increase comes from the Abujar-Gludehi (AG) deposit gold resource which has grown by 490,000 ounces to 2.3 million ounces at 1.5 g.t gold.

Drilling ongoing

This updated resource provides a solid foundation to underpin a pre‐feasibility study which is due to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021 while exploration is ongoing.

A 70,000-metre diamond drill program is underway with results set to be included in the next resource upgrade due in the second quarter of 2021. 

The substantial uplift in resources resulted from focusing a major portion of the 61,000 metres of diamond drilling since November 2019 at Abujar into resource growth.

PFS on track for Q1 2021

Tietto’s managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “This latest resource snapshot provides us with a great foundation for our pre-feasibility study on track to be delivered early in first quarter 2021, as we begin to test the company’s aspiration for a large scale 3.5 million tonnes per annum open pit operation.”

AG’s high‐grade, near-surface core has increased 16% to 22.8 million tonnes at 2.18 g/t gold for 1.6 million ounces of contained gold.

“This is the centrepiece of the proposed mine development, delivering high‐grade feedstock from  surface,” he said.

Indicated resources within the AG deposit increased by 44% to 24.1 million tonnes at 1.6 g/t gold for 1.24 million ounces of contained gold, representing more than 41% of the Abujar project ounces.

The new South Gamina (SG) prospect shows potential for new gold resource growth proximal to large scale untested artisanal pits.

APG gold resources hiked

The company also increased gold resources at its APG deposit, which is shaping up as a large gold resource, and additionally delivered a maiden resource at SG. 

Both APG and SG occur on the main Abujar Shear within 10 kilometres of its proposed mill adjacent to AG’s high‐grade core.

Next steps

“Such rapid growth is attributed to our geological and drilling teams’ completing more than 61,000 metres of diamond drilling since November 2019 at arguably the lowest costs in the sector,” said Wang. 

“Our exploration teams are planning to drill 70,000 metres of diamond drilling as we look to deliver the next round of resource growth in 2021.

"We have only scratched the surface with 11.5 kilometres of strike tested on the Abujar main shear delivering 3.02 million ounces gold.

“We expect this fertile structure to continue to underpin future resource growth as we drill test more than 8.5 kilometres of strike north and south of AG and APG in 2021.”

Exploration drilling is also planned for high‐priority targets on parallel mineralised shears located to the west and east of the Abujar main shear.

Tietto also has a number of drill‐ready targets on the adjacent northern and southern Abujar tenements which are expected to produce maiden gold resource estimates in 2021. 

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