JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed gold explorer and developer Kefi Minerals has received approval from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Mines to develop its Tulu Kapi project.
The company's application for the 86 000-oz/y mine was now before the Council of Ministers for approval to execute a mining agreement and to issue the mining licence and full permitting to develop and operate the project for 20 years.
Further, Kefi Minerals on Monday said the estimated development expenditure for the mine had been reduced from $150-million to $120-million, based on initial bids received from mining contractors and on terms on offer to the company for the acquisition of the identified suitable process plants.
The development funding plan would be a combination of debt and equity finance, drawn down in the second half of this year and comprising $100-million of project debt, with the balance of $20-million being financed by one of a number of possible sources currently being assembled, including financing from contractors and equity at the project or parent company level.
"It is an exciting period for Kefi, with a great deal of progress occurring across the board. As we rapidly move towards the receipt of the mining licence and advance our funding plans, we remain on track to start development at the project this year, [aiming] for production in 2017,” Kefi executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said.
The company also planned to conclude its definitive feasibility study and start construction of the 1.2-million-ton-a-year processing plant, during this year.
The Tulu Kapi project had a probable ore reserve of one-million ounces of gold and mineral resources of 1.9-million ounces of gold.