West Africa's latest gold producer Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) passed a significant milestone in achieving commercial production during the June quarter at its Abujar Gold Mine in Cote d'Ivoire.
During the quarter, the company produced 15,592 ounces of gold at Abujar, a significant jump from the March quarter production of 9,500 ounces.
This milestone comes less than 18 months following the initiation of construction activities on the Abujar process plant and following the annualised DFS milling rate achievement last month.
Looking ahead, Abujar is forecasted to generate strong cash flows during the second half based on the production guidance of 105,000-120,000 ounces at US$875 to US$975 per ounce AISC.
Strong net cash flow
Tietto CEO and managing director 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 optimise mining and milling after achieving commercial production during June."
Abujar's gold production.
Production highlights
Mill throughput in the month of June exceeded the DFS rate of 4 million tonnes per year and Tietto continues to optimise mill throughput, reaching peak rates of more than 16,000 tonnes per day during June.
Tietto is confident the mill will consistently exceed nameplate capacity in the second half of this year.
Mining convention
The Mining Convention was confirmed between Tietto's local entity (SML) and the Cote d'Ivoire Government on May 26, 2023.
This agreement, issued in line with the 2015 Cote d'Ivoire Mining Code, is valid for the current 10-year mine life and can be renewed for additional five-year periods.
Encouragingly, the specifics of the convention align with Abujar DFS assumptions.
About Abujar
The Abujar Gold Project is 30 kilometres from the major regional city of Daloa in central western Côte D'Ivoire.
It is close to good regional and local infrastructure to facilitate exploration and development being only 15 kilometres from the nearest tarred road and grid power.
The Abujar Gold Project comprises three contiguous exploration tenements, Middle, South and North tenement, with a total land area of 1,114 square kilometres, of which less than 10% has been explored.