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28 June 2021
ASX-listed West Africa gold developer Tietto Minerals appears on an unwavering pathway towards kicking off the main construction phase at its Abujar gold project in Cote dâIvoire by early 2022 and achieving production start-up at the end of that year.
Tietto has also just hosted representatives from more than a dozen mining contractors bidding for the Abujar open-cut mining services contract.
https://thewest.com.au/business/public-companies/cote-divoire-gold-mine-development-motoring-along-for-tietto-c-3258136
Thank you Cowichan, very interesting, I just can't get enthusiastic about these West African operations, certainly after Centamin's past record they would be drilling more holes and producing coloured charts for the next two decades, and you would still be waiting for your promised recourse updates!
Considering the past shambolic organisation of production in the open and the underground pits at at Sukari projects like this are most probably way beyond the capability of the Centamin, management at present, they have after all spent a decade and many millions of dollars drilling holes and making promises of guidance updates anytime soon, yet have failed to produce anything of any substance!
The new Centamin management team have yet to prove themselves by sorting the mess at Sukari, a project like this would be just another diversion and the excuse why they haven't delivered guidance in Eygpt again!
10 years and millions of dollars drilling millions of holes and yet delivering nothing of any worth as far we are aware speaks for itself, there is either nothing there or as a mining company Centamin aren't up to the job in that environment.
Mr Tibbles, I agree that sorting the Sukari mine out has to be the priority with exploration elsewhere secondary. However, I think your post is confusing the previous management failures and the current managements' plans ( agreed yet to prove themselves). This new management appears to be sorting the mine out and getting back to production levels that saw a ÂŁ2 share price, and reducing the cost of production. I think the future for the mine and shareholders is positive. Also, they are thinking about growth and exploration, (which has to be positive), and they cannot be held responsible for unproductive exploration expenditure by the previous management over the last 10 years. Please give them some space to prove themselves.
Tibbs drilling holes and making presentations to investors is what a mining company does.
The latter is considerably cheaper than advertising in the media.
As for drilling there is considerable science a lot of gut feel and a hell of a lot of luck involved.
Yes Centamin have had 10 years plus in West Africa trying to find a viable resource and it isn't just about finding a resource it has to be an emphasis on the viable cost effective project.
Centamin knew when taking on Ampella's properties that they had some proven sulphides in BF and a considerable number of square miles of additional ground to look at and yes the need for a whole lot of holes to drill and this is a necessary evil, you don't just say thanks and use it as a nature reserve you have to work it to ascertain whether you have additional reserves and OK BF and Batie didn't work out BUT we should all be tipping our hat because it looks as though they have viable resources in Ivory Coast and bonus is not land locked somewhat safer and yes they still need to drill more holes as I say if we want to invest in a mining company they need to spend money on exploration and it doesn't come cheap.
Don't get me wrong I am not making excuses for many short comings over the last 5 years but this isn't about exploration it is about how they buried their head to Sukari issues all of which should have been obvious if you are working the mine.
I don't get why they being the board need to concentrate on just Egypt WHY? they are the board they aren't the grafters on the ground who are doing the work.
The board member(s) will be making a visit possibly in current times only virtually and looking at management summaries of reports provided by their teams and outside professional consultants and then writing up policy and relying on their project managers to bring in the results.
Having got this far in WA it is time to push on to opening another mine or hopefully two and if they bring in Doropo from a virgin plot to a productive mine in the next 18 months it will have been done in very good time.
Everything crossed for some good news over the coming weeks and if it is good news the market understands it is good news.
Hi GlyBristol,
I appreciate that many hold Sammi El Raghy in high regard as a geologist, I must accept their opinion because because II am not in a position or adequately qualified to dispute the opinion, nor do I wish to!
Sammi has often quoted Sukari as a world class mine, with only the best people, however after ten years of erratic guidance performance, several avoidable production equipment disasters, the claimed unexpected grade problems that were known about three years previously and most recently the near collapse of the open pit wall due to the complete failure to clear waste and manage water drainage, Sammi's claims seem unjustifiable to say the least!
The Sukari mine in it's present state cannot be regarded a world class mine, it is a a mine that is operating in limp mode due to certain area's being full of waste restricting access which has to be cleared and although work has already commenced at present the timescale for completion and the resumption of more normal production can only be estimated at best.
Also whilst the ordinary Sukari site staff may be hard working and committed, their success is reliant upon the directions given and professional abilities of the previous senior management who have now been proven to be inept, complacent,possibly even worse!
In its present state present the Sukari mine cannot be regarded as world class and neither can the previous manegment be regarded as the best, quite the contrary on both counts in fact!
Those facts accepted, I agree that Sukari has the potential to became a world class mine, but only under the right manegment team, this achieved and on a sustainable basis then that team may well justify being regarded to as some of the best!
The future of Centamin and Sukari is now dependent on the new management walking the talk and proving themselves to the market and the share holders, no mean task, but I remain optimistic!
Tibbs Sukari is a world class resource given proven reserves.
This doesn't mean it is a world class operation although to date if you average out the number of ounces over the life of mine they are pretty close to what was predicted when I bought in.
Problem is to get to these numbers there have been short cuts to keep investors happy and these have come home to roost but there again I remember having to defend cut backs, when concentrating on waste removal over some periods. Such again necessary evils and the criticism that could have been levied is that management were naĂŻvely over estimating production to keep investors happy.
Unfortunately it appears they didn't continue with the cut backs on a regular basis to maybe again naively keep the investors happy.
One excellent result is that there was no slide so someone was on the ball and they live to fight another day and the higher grade ore is still an asset it hasn't gone anywhere and not sitting at the bottom of a slip.
As I say lets hope we get some good news over the coming weeks.
Hi Dasut,
I hope for good news too, especially after the past three years or so !
Yes, it seems that Kees Dekkers past concerns over some of the managements claims and their behavior of management were indeed justified.
Thank you for your explanation, the previous Centamin management regime are undeserving of your loyalty, although, having said that I understand your point about trying to keep the share holders happy with output.
I'm sure this wasnât your intention, but this statement seems to imply that we shares holders were in some way informed of risk, or given options of condoning the sacrificing of fit for purpose, appropriate and safe mining methods at Sukuri in preference for increased output.
I was certainly unaware of Pardey and Co ever making share holderâs aware of the risks being taken on their behalf to inflate production and share price.
I feel confident that had share holders ever been informed of a choice of running the open pit in a safe manner using the appropriate mining methods, or throwing caution to the wind and "Winging it" in favour of short time gain with the inevitable risk of catastrophic events involved, then theywould have been horrified and most likely wondered just what bunch of chancer's were running Sukari, but certainly chosen for the former option of how Sukari should be operated!
There is no excuse; the previous management were guilty of putting their own self interests first by "Glossing over the facts" and completely disregarding their professional responsibilities to the company and its share holders!
One analyst who was honest enough to flag up some serious concerns and question what was taking place at Sukari was disregarded and discredited by Pardey, and bysome others who claimed he didnât understand about mining issues!
I am also guilty, stupidly in hindsight of choosing to believe that surely Pardey knows what he is doing, as it turns out he certainly did, and Kees Dekker was proven to be right in just about every respect!
So I have to agree with the paragraphs from part of Cowichans Martin Horgan interview below.
However, the company's bumpy performance since 2018 - when it suffered three production guidance misses due to operational issues - means some are yet to be convinced!
"I just can't trust those guys - they don't do what they say they're going to do" was the verdict of one London-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous!â
As far as I am concerned during the previous managements tenure they purposely deceived share holders on so many occasions, yet after every deception became apparent Pardey pledged lessons had been learned things were going to be different, communications with share holders would be improved, it never happened and instead they yet again betrayed the share holders trust and yet again Kees Dekkerâs concerns were proven right!
So as I already stated Martin Horgan and his team have a lot on their plate in Egypt, but they deserve the chance to prove themselves as really being the new order to share holders, so I wait optimistically once again!
For those who are interested see the Kees Dekker reports I have posted from 2015 & 2018