5 February 2020, The Annual Investing in African Mining Indaba has grown into the most comprehensive gathering of mining companies, investors, governments, mine solution providers and media on the continent. For the past two years it has also afforded junior miners the opportunity to compete for investor funding in the ‘Investment Battlefield’.

This year an actual boxing ring in the main exhibition area of the event served as the stage for the contenders.
Mark Strizek, MD of Tietto Minerals impressed the judges with their entry: Fast tracking the development of the Abujar Gold Project, and emerged as the ultimate Battlefield winner. The project is located approximately 30km from the major regional city of Daloa in central western Côte D’Ivoire and the current resource stands at 45.5Mt @ 1.5g/t Au for 2.15Moz of contained gold.
Any emerging mining company with projects in Africa with a market cap of $50m or below is eligible to apply and an initial screening sees successful applicants grouped according to commodity and lifecycle stage. From this point they are invited to pitch their project to the investor judges, where they have just five minutes to put their best business case forward, after which judges provide feedback for ten minutes. Not only do the emerging miners get the opportunity to pit their project against those of their peers, but also receive invaluable feedback based on the expertise of the judges. A series of knock-out rounds gradually reduces the contenders until an ultimate winner is identified.
Each year, judges are selected from prominent investment organisations. This year, the final battle between junior miners was judged by George Cheveley, Portfolio Manager, Investec Asset Management; Heidi Sternberg, Sector Specialist Mining, Public Investment Corporation; Erez Ichilov, Managing Director, Traxys Projects; and Jonathan Cordero, Head of Corporate Development, Eurasian Resource Group.
By the third and final day of the Investment Battlefield programme, Tietto Minerals was joined in the final round by:

• Arc Minerals – represented by Remy Welschinger, Finance Director
• Eco Graf – represented by Andrew Spinks, Managing Director
• Roscan Gold – represented by Nana Bompeh Sangmuah, President & CEO,

In announcing the winner, Dominic Piper, Editor, Paydirt Media spoke of the key features of Tietto Minerals’ pitch and said they had taken three things into consideration in their final selection: the strength of fundamentals of the commodity; the quality of the asset; and the quality of the team itself in realising shareholder value.

Commenting on the win, Mark Strizek acknowledged the strength of the competition and said it would give Tietto Minerals a chance to raise their profile and gain new investors and shareholders.
As winner, they receive:

• Winners will receive a free exhibition stand and tickets to the Mining Indaba 2021
• Profile featured in the Paydirt magazine
• A 10-minute speaking slot at Mining Indaba 2021
• 3 free passes to attend Mining Indaba 2021
• Access to the Investor Relations Service for their meeting schedule at Mining Indaba 2021
• 3 nights’ free hotel accommodation for one member of your team at the 2021 conference

The runner up receives:

• Promotion in the post event report as the runner up of the Investment Battlefield.
• Access to the Investor Relations Service for their meeting schedule at Mining Indaba 2021
• Two free passes to attend Mining Indaba 2021