JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed gold exploration and development company Kefi Minerals on Tuesday said it has formally mandated its bond arranger for the placement of $160-million of listed infrastructure bonds.

“[This] formal mandating reflects that a significant part of the due diligence and documentation for the financing has been completed and the remaining aspects are advancing well – both for the bond issue and with arrangements at the organisational and Tulu Kapi community levels,” said Kefi executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.

Kefi remains on track for drawdown of full project finance and to trigger community resettlement and mobilisation of construction contractors at the end of the Ethiopian wet season, which is normally in September.

In the meantime, there are other planned milestones for the company, including the listing of the bonds so that they can be placed.

“A welcome outcome of the bond due diligence progress is the offering of a larger bond issue. Accordingly, we have increased the funding plan to $160-million (previously $150-million) of bond-financed on-site infrastructure.

“While we can prepay any unused bond funds, this provides a bigger safety buffer for contingencies. We have, in parallel, increased the project-equity raising to $50-million (previously $40-million) for similar reasons and also to launch the Ethiopian exploration programme,” Anagnostaras-Adams explained.  

Of this project-level equity, $20-million has already been committed from the government and the balance is under negotiation with third parties.

"Independent reviews of the project plans and associated economics have been completed and reaffirm their robustness and attractiveness," Agnostaras-Adams added.

Upon successful completion of due diligence, documentation and private placement of the bond issue, the planned Luxembourg bonds will fund ownership by Kefi’s Luxembourg-regulated finance special purpose vehicle of the gold processing plant and ancillary infrastructure at the Tulu Kapi gold project for lease to Tulu Kapi gold mines share company – jointly owned by Kefi and the Ethiopian government.