Emerging gold producer Kefi Minerals anticipates being in a position to start project development for its Tulu Kapi gold project, in Ethiopia, from January 2020.

This comes as Kefi established a public-private partnership platform for the highly prospective Oromia region, which now stands to benefit from modern industrial-scale mining for the first time, Kefi executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said on Tuesday.

Documentation relating to the project level subscriptions has been issued to the company’s partners, and agreements are expected to be duly executed and returned by the Ethiopian government and ANS Mining Share Company this month, to allow their subscriptions for equity into the project company, Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Share Company (TKGM).

The company also announced that some of these subscription proceeds had already been deployed by the Ethiopian government in order to construct a new road of 11 km from the main highway to the Tulu Kapi project site. 

Kefi expects the transfer of the first tranche of the ANS Mining funding of $9.5-million to TKGM shortly after the return of the subscription agreements.

These funds will enable the start of phase one of the community resettlement, debt implementation trigger and detailing the final procurement and contractual arrangements with the principal Project contractors in January 2020.

Kefi also reported on Tuesday that it had placed 149-million new Kefi ordinary shares to raise gross proceeds of more than £1.8-million.

Following the placing, all drawn funds under the company's existing convertible financing arrangements will have been repaid.

Kefi said that following the issue of the placing shares, the £3.5-million undrawn balance under these outstanding facilities would be cancelled.

The proceeds of the placing wouldalso be used for the provision of working capital for the company pending funds becoming available from project equity subscriptions to TKGM and the payment of other amounts owing.