Tietto Minerals says its 3.35 million ounce Abujar gold project in Côte d’Ivoire in Africa is now fully funded until gold production, expected by 2022. The company has closed an oversubscribed placement of $ 85 million and will issue approximately 218 million fully paid common stock at $ 0.39 per share. It will use the new funds, its existing cash reserves of $ 32.8 million and a credit facility of $ 140 million to catapult Abujar into production.

Settlement of the first tranche of the two-tranche offering is expected to be completed at the end of the week, with allotment due to take place a few days later. The next installment is subject to shareholder approval and is expected to be settled in the new year.

The placement includes a significant investment from one of China’s largest gold mining companies, Zhaojin Mining.

Notably, several members of Tietto’s board of directors, including CEO Dr Caigen Wang, will also exercise their existing options and collectively sell six million shares to institutional investors at the same price as the capital increase to fund the company. exercise of their options.

With the backing of this A $ 85 million placement, we now have funding in place to allow us to build Abujar and turn Tietto into the next West African gold producer as we bring the project to life. production on schedule in 2022.

We have started a US $ 8.65 million preliminary works program, including initial engineering and design, site and camp construction, and have assembled an experienced project construction team who can ensure that We deliver gold production to Abujar on time and on budget.

Tietto already has a loan facility worth between US $ 130 million and US $ 140 million with the Taurus Mining Finance Fund and the new placement will now make the US $ 200 million project a reality.

Before closing a deal with Taurus, the West African gold producer mulled over a stack of funding proposals from a range of banks, offshore financial institutions and fixed income providers, with offers ranging up to $ 180 million on the table.

Contenders lined up for a tranche of the Abujar gold project from Tietto following some revealing figures from its recently completed final feasibility study of “DFS” which included a whopping EBITDA of A $ 2 billion over time. 11-year initial mine life, a pre-tax net present value of A $ 1.3 billion and an estimated payback period of less than one year. Remarkably, the DFS results also indicated a stellar internal rate of return of 115%.

Tietto made good use of its coveted fleet of diamond drilling rigs, the company dotting its West African landholdings with drill holes and retrieving a Christmas sack full of high-grade gold hits in the process. Recent results from the fifth round of drilling at Tietto’s Abujar-Gludehi deposit, part of the Abujar gold project, yielded an 8-meter result grading 12.43 grams per tonne of gold from of 187 meters, which included a 2-meter intersection grading an impressive 48.37 grams of gold per tonne.

With an inventory of company-owned drilling rigs at its disposal, saddlebags full of cash, and a string of high-quality gold blows to its credit, Tietto’s Abujar Express could end up with a few passengers. more as he heads quickly to production.

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