KEFI Gold, Copper resumes development of Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia
London based mining company, KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) said development of the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia has restarted after being postponed for five months on security concerns.
The security situation has remained stable at both the site and the preferred transport routes over the past two months, the company said in a statement on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
“It is great to see that Ethiopia has settled down so quickly over the past two months and that TKGM’s teams are back in the field for launch preparations,” said KEFI executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams. “Everyone is now pushing for full project launch.”
“And it’s doubly impactful that the turnaround in Ethiopia has coincided with a take-off of our projects in Saudi Arabia. KEFI has turned onto the front foot in both jurisdictions, after particularly frustrating years in both.
A civil war in the country has abated since peaking at the end of December 2021 and the state of emergency has been lifted.
AIM-traded KEFI said it has been monitoring the situation, alongside the country’s mining ministry, over the past two months and that the security situation has remained stable at both the site and the preferred transport routes.
The project’s principal contractors are expected to deliver the final costing at the end of April, KEFI said, adding that the anticipated final capital estimate for the project has not changed from previous guidance.
Tulu Kapi is part of the KEFI-operated Ethiopia joint-venture Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Share Company (TKGM).
“KEFI now has three advanced development gold and copper-gold projects with significant resource upside in two now-supportive jurisdictions of the Arabian Nubian Shield, and in which our beneficial interest is already the equivalent of 2.1 million oz gold,” said Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.
