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Kefi strikes gold: Cyprus-based, AIM-listed Kefi Gold and Copper (Kefi) announced the discovery of high-grade gold deposits at its Jibal Qutman gold project, it said in a statement yesterday. Kefi owns a 25% stake in Jibal Qutman through a JV with local partner and investment holding company Artar.
Ironing out the details: Kefi said it discovered “excellent grades of up to 66.6 grams of gold per ton of ore.” It added that systematic exploration is currently underway across the 270 square km of Jibal Qutman gold exploration licenses to help “identify further resource potential.” It is also looking for new areas in the concession to explore.
Artar has agreed to fund the programme to “ensure that swift progress continues” as Kefi prepares to launch its Tulu Kapi gold project for which it obtained a USD 320 mn financing package earlier this month.
Expect to know more in 2H: Results of a feasibility study are expected in the second half of this year, Keifi said, adding that a preferred production start-up plan should be drawn up in the same period.
Kefi is big on its prospects in Saudi: “The foot remains on the accelerator at our much larger discovery, the Hawiah Copper-Gold Project in the Wadi Bidah Minerals Belt, where we have recently been joined as explorers by Saudi Arabia’s largest mining company, Ma’aden, which has been granted licenses adjacent to us and quickly launched a large exploration programme in joint venture with Ivanhoe Electric,” Kefi’s Executive Chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said.
REMEMBER- All part of the Kingdom’s mining push: Earlier this month, the Mining Ministry announced setting up a USD 182 mn mineral exploration incentive program in cooperation with the Investment Ministry. The moves come as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to expand the sector and tap reserves of gold, phosphate and others. The nation’s untapped mineral resources are now worth as much as USD 2.5 tn, or 90% more than the last forecast in 2016, officials said earlier in January.
