Ben’s Picks – Ben Weber’s best small cap buys

TIETTO MINERALS (ASX: TIE)

Tietto remains on track to pour first gold at its 3.45 million-ounce Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire by the end of this year, becoming West Africa’s next gold producer.

It has been a remarkable and impressive run for this company which fully funded Abujar through to gold production without incurring any debt.

Despite the challenges of operating in Africa and most of its development during a global pandemic, Tietto has continued to hit its milestones and timelines for Abujar. Its Definitive Feasibility Study for Abujar, completed in 2021, demonstrated the potential to produce 260,000oz in the first year, with 1.2Moz forecast production over the first six years of operation.

Tietto’s Abujar Gold Project in western Côte d’Ivoire has a Mineral Resource estimate of 98.7Mt @ 1.1g/t Au for 3.45Moz.

At an all-in-sustaining cost of US$804 an ounce, the project delivers robust economics with a significant upside to the gold price, basing its DFS on US$1,407/oz.
It had achieved considerable resource growth from less than 1Moz when it was listed on the ASX in early 2018 to its latest Mineral Resource Estimate of 3.45Moz, including Ore Reserves of 1.45Moz.

It has grown resources economically, establishing its fleet of diamond drill rigs for some of the lowest-cost drillings at about US$35 per metre.

Price Action 

The Company’s ASX-listed shares are $1.80 in morning trade.

Fundamental Data

FERTOZ (ASX: FTZ)

Recent changes at Fertoz provide new momentum for this organic fertiliser company, which expanded operations into carbon capture last year. Daniel Gleeson, a former executive at US-based agricultural technology and science company Syngenta, took over the CEO role earlier this year, with more than 20 years of experience in agribusiness across M&A, due diligence and integration, research and development, and portfolio and geographical expansion.

Fertoz has recently boosted its management team with two US-based appointments – new CFO Emma Davidson and Werner Pienaar joining as Sales Director North America, based in Idaho.

With a $5 million capital raise completed in recent months, Fertoz is focused on accelerating its development of Fertoz Carbon, including recruitment, project advancement and technical reports, while continuing to build out its North American organic phosphate team. It is nearing the construction of a fertiliser pellet plant in Montana, USA, and a reforestation project in South East Asia is also progressing.

Fertoz will supply US farmers with high quailty NPK fertiliser pellets

Fertoz delivered record phosphate sales in 1H CY22, and its order book in 2H is expected to exceed sales for 2021. That outlook demonstrates how well this company is positioned to scale up its business and execute its expansion plans as we see continued growth opportunities in regenerative agriculture and global carbon projects.

Price Action 

The Company’s ASX-listed shares are $1.80 in morning trade.

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Fundamental Data

About Ben Weber

Ben is Chief Investment Officer at Barclay Capital and has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. His background includes portfolio construction and quantitative trading to large and mid-cap investments. Ben predominantly focuses on small caps and emerging markets, providing capital solutions and market strategy to listed and Pre-IPO companies. His clients include wholesale investors and ASX-listed companies, having built long-term and successful relationships. Barclay Pearce Capital is an Australian and UK-based provider of advisory services to privately owned businesses and small to medium-sized public and ASX-listed companies. Ben joined the team at the start of 2021.

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