Copper ores company Kefi Minerals expects to receive project finance confirmation for its Tulu Kapi gold project, in Ethiopia, by the end of January, with the project’s full launch expected between February and May.
The country’s Ministry of Mines also confirmed a licence for the project, valid until 2035, earlier this month.
These developments follow a temporary pause of the project during September and October owing to the prohibition of site access imposed by government security authorities, which followed the abduction of four staff members.
Kefi’s beneficial interest in the project is now expected to be about 70%, up from the 45% expected in 2020, making the project “significantly value accretive”.
Further, Phase 4 exploration of the Hawaih copper/gold project, in Saudi Arabia, was completed, with 16 306 m drilled.
An update to the mineral resource estimate is expected in December following the drilling campaigns undertaken during the year, and will include the additional resources defined in the Phase 3 and Phase 4 drilling programmes.
Kefi on November 16 said early statistical analysis confirms mineralisation delineated during the recent drilling programmes, which “will aid to improve the overall project economics”.