Tietto Minerals has begun wet commissioning of its 4.5 metric tonnes per annum (Mtpa) carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing system at the Abujar gold project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The West African gold explorer and developer is expected to deliver the first gold pour at the project within 10 days.
Located about 30km from the city of Daloa in central western Côte D’Ivoire, the 3.45 million ounces Abujar gold project consists of three contiguous exploration tenements that span a total land area of 1,114km2.
With the processing plant and tailings storage facility (TSF) fully operational, the gold project is anticipated to produce 260,000 ounces of gold in its first year of production.
The semi-autogenous (SAG) mill and CIL processing system at the gold project have a capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes per day of low grade pre-striping material.
According to the gold exploration company, the open-pit mining stockpiles are mounting with over 15,000 tonnes per day of ore being added to the run-of-mine (ROM) pad.
The Abujar gold project is on schedule and constructed on budget with no debt and zero hedging, said Tietto Minerals.
The gold project is expected to produce 1.2 million ounces of gold in its initial six years.
Tietto Minerals managing director Caigen Wang said: “To build a gold mine the size of Abujar in less than 12 months is a monumental achievement.
“To do it during COVID with supply chain issues, escalated pricing and skilled people shortage made it, almost, mission impossible. Our in‐house construction team has demonstrated it can be delivered through careful planning, diligent management and hard work.”
