Name of the Project
Tulu Kapi gold project.

Location
Western Ethiopia.

Project Owner/s
Kefi Gold and Copper (formerly KEFI Minerals) will own 80% of the exploration and holding company for the government of Ethiopia, KME, which, in turn, will own 56% of Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Share Company (TKGM), thus bestowing Kefi with a 45% beneficial interest in the project.

Project Description
Tulu Kapi has an ore reserve estimate of 15.4-million tonnes at 2.1 g/t gold for 1.1-million ounces of gold.

Openpit gold production is estimated at 140 000 oz/y over a seven-year mine life.

Total life-of-mine production is estimated at 980 000 oz.

The conventional openpit mining operation will include a carbon-in-leach processing plant. The mine will be connected to Ethiopia’s electricity grid through a new 47-km-long, 132 kV dedicated power line relatively close to the country’s major hydropower-generation source. An emergency diesel power plant will also be installed to provide emergency backup power for critical process equipment in the event of grid power failure.

A preliminary economic assessment has indicated the economic attractiveness of mining the underground deposit adjacent to the Tulu Kapi openpit after the startup of the openpit and the repaying of project debts through positive cash flows.

Potential Job Creation
The project will employ 1 000 people directly and up to 10 000 people indirectly.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
$320-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The company is confident that the project’s construction can start in 2023 and that the openpit mine will produce gold in 2025.

Latest Developments
Kefi Gold and Copper have completed the last of many special permissions and policy changes agreed with the Ethiopian authorities over the years since Kefi assumed control of the Tulu Kapi project.

The project is now fully permitted, with only procedural administrative confirmations remaining.

The company received formal confirmation on October 5 from the National Bank of Ethiopia concerning the details for the operation of offshore banking by Kefi’s operating subsidiary, TKGM, and its project financing banks.

This clarifies the operational details for the implementation of the policies set out in the recently published National Bank of Ethiopia Directives, which waive strategic mining projects from foreign exchange control and capital controls.

The special permissions and policy changes allow for modern project finance arrangements to be applied since there has been no industrial-scale mine development in Ethiopia for 30 years.

With all matters of principle for the project now having been resolved with the authorities, the project finance banks can proceed to final credit approval for the project’s $190-million secured debt package.

Upon approval, Tulu Kapi’s detailed debt terms will have been resolved, as will the structure of the overall $390-million finance plan.

Key Contractors, Suppliers and Consultants
Lycopodium (plant construction); and Corica Group (mine services).

Contact Details for Project Information
Kefi Gold and Copper, tel +90 232 381 9431, fax +90 232 381 9071 or email info@kefi-minerals.com.