Cote d 'Ivoire's Ministry of Mines, Oil and Energy has awarded a mining licence to The three-million-ounce Abuja gold mine owned by Iron Ore mining, setting the abuja project on its way to becoming West Africa's next gold producer.
The 120.36 sq km licence covers all of the 3.02 million ounces of gold currently held in the Abuja project.
The company is negotiating with the Ivorian government on the terms and conditions of a mining convention for the Abuja project, which is expected to be concluded early in the first half of the year.
Based on the approval of the mining license and the pending pre-feasibility study for the Abuja project, The Iron Ore Board has approved $2.5 million worth of early site works, including road repairs within the project area, camp improvements and the purchase of some long-lead products.
The results of the Abuja project's pre-feasibility study will still be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
Tietuo has begun a new round of drilling for 70, 000 metres of diamond, with more than 1, 500 samples awaiting testing.
Iron Ore has plenty of cash to meet the milestones of the project, with A $60m in cash on hand.
Ivory Coast's Ministry of Mining, Oil and Energy has awarded a licence to the Three million ounce Abuja gold mine project owned by West African gold prospector and developer Tietto Minerals Limited (ASX: TIE), setting the stage for Abuja to become west Africa's next gold producer, the company announced today.
Commenting on this development, Dr Caien Wang, Managing Director of Iron Ore, said:
"The approval of the mining licence is another milestone in the development of the 3.02 million ounce Gold Mine in Abuja.
We are in the final stages of the approval process (environmental permits were granted in October 2020) and negotiations have begun on the terms and conditions of the mining convention, with all approvals expected in the first half of 2021.
In light of this, the Board of Directors of Iron Ore recently approved a budget to advance the project's on-site work and long-term procurement projects."
"The pre-feasibility study for the Abuja project is still in progress and will be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
Ongoing exploratory drilling continues to accelerate following the election in Ivory Coast, and we will continue to report these further drilling results in the coming weeks and months that will increase the amount of gold in Abuja at very low drilling costs.
The company has enough cash to enable us to continue our march toward west Africa's next gold producer through both pre-feasibility studies and further very low-cost resource drilling."
"The Board and I would like to thank the Ivorian government and its officials and the local community for their support of our team, and we would like to thank our team for their professionalism and work ethic in making this milestone possible."
Table 1. Next work schedule
