The company introduced the first ore from the 3.45 million ounce project to the plant in mid-December and, following wet commissioning of the 4.5 million tonne per annum Abjuar plant earlier this month, has now produced the first 414oz of what it expects will ramp up to 260,000oz gold over the first 12 months.

 

Tietto remains debt-free, unhedged, and delivered West Africa's newest gold mine essentially on budget and schedule, within 12 months of breaking ground.

 

Managing director Dr Caigen Wang described the first smelt as a "transformational milestone" for Tietto.

 

"We gave ourselves a tight timeframe to achieve our gold production goal and it's incredibly pleasing to see it come to fruition," he said.

 

It had originally hoped to produce first gold from the A$200 million project late last month.

 

The company, which plans to recover 1.2Moz over the next six years at all-in sustaining costs averaging US$804/oz, is already thinking about a second mining operation with a feasibility study on the APG heap leach project, which could recover an additional 85,000ozpa over a decade.

 

Tietto hopes to produce 260,000-300,000ozpa once the heap leach joins its existing operations from 2024.

 

It also plans to complete 120,000m of diamond drilling this year to further improve its understanding of the project.

 

A resource update based on its 2022 drilling is planned later this quarter.

 

Tietto shares were up 1% in early trade at A85c, valuing the company at $907 million. 

 

The company is just below its 12-month peak of 86c.