Tietto Minerals delivers yet another round of multiple shallow high-grade gold intercepts from Abujar

Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE) has returned multiple shallow high-grade intercepts from infill drilling at its flagship Abujar Gold Project, further strengthening the 3.2-million-ounce project’s golden potential. The latest results, from the Abujar‐Pischon‐Golikro (APG) deposit, include intercepts of: 17 metres at 2.84 g/t gold from 21 metres including 9 metres at 4.55 g/t; 2 metres at 22.7 g/t from 91 metres; 1-metre at 13.41 g/t from 166 metres; and 5 metres at 7.55 g/t from 15 metres. The ongoing 40,000-metre infill drill program at Abujar is aimed at upgrading the inferred resources estimate, due later this quarter, outside the recently declared AG (Abujar-Gludehi) maiden open pit ore reserve of 15.7 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t for 860,000 ounces. Upgrade on the horizon Tietto managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “Our latest round of assay results from infill drilling at APG are delivering shallow high‐grade gold intercepts as we close up our drill spacing to delineate indicated resources. “We are seeing increases in the tenor of gold grades with these assays bumping the top assay to 35.35 g/t gold, previously 26.54 g/t in last APG resource model, and there are now 28 assays greater than 10 g/t compared to 19 in the last resource update at APG. “This is exactly what we observed at AG as we closed up the drill spacing to that required for indicated.  “More drilling, hitting more high grades led to increases in the top cuts used for resource modelling.” The mineral resource update will drive mine mill optimisation and ore reserve studies for the Abujar definitive feasibility study, which is on track for delivery in the third quarter of 2021. Spec buy rating The excitement around Abujar is building, with Canaccord placing a Speculative Buy rating and a price target of A$0.75 per share on Tietto off the back of the recently published pre-feasibility study. Canaccord analysts Paul Howard and Reg Spencer said the PFS met their expectations for a low-cost base case with 200,000 ounces in Year 1 and averaging 182,000 ounces per annum in Years 1-3, and you can read their full analysis of the project here. Next steps There are assay results still pending, with more than 4,000 Abujar core samples currently at the laboratory. Additional drilling is planned along strike at APG, with more step‐back drilling to test the depth limits of the large gold system. Tietto’s fleet of six diamond rigs is drilling about 11,000 metres per month to drive Abujar’s rapid resource growth, at a low discovery cost per ounce in 2021, and the company is well funded with $52 million cash in the bank. “The mineral resource update is due in late May/early June,” Wang said. “As we combine the updated mineral resource with the enhancements identified in the PFS, I expect to see an uplift in our ore reserves at Abujar following new mine optimisation and mine scheduling studies. “Our diamond drilling rigs will soon move onto drill testing the multitude of exploration targets around our proposed mill at Abujar to drive future resource growth. “On the development front, we have mapped out a clear path to delivery for our fully funded Abujar DFS in Q3 2021 as we move towards Abujar becoming West Africa’s next gold mine.” - Daniel Paproth