TIDMKEFI
RNS Number : 2048D
KEFI Minerals plc
08 October 2018
8 October 2018
KEFI Minerals plc
("KEFI" or the "Company")
Government Clearance of Community Resettlement and Project
Timetable
KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and
development company with projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is delighted to
confirm, in relation to the Company's Tulu Kapi Gold Project (the
"Project"), that the local, zonal and regional authorities, have
confirmed their intention to trigger resettlement of the Tulu Kapi
community as soon as possible, with an agreed target date of 1
January 2019. This follows meetings which took place in the Tulu
Kapi area with the directors of KEFI and also of ANS Mining Share
Company ("ANS"), KEFI's co-investor in Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Limited
("TKGM"), working alongside the federal government.
Preparatory activities for the resettlement will now turn to an
exhaustive community communication and consultation program on the
various aspects of the home and livelihood restoration plans down
to the individual household level. The physical preparations will
be launched as soon as the wet season ends shortly, including that
the resettlement work teams building roads into new host lands and
the preparation of new host lands. During this time the community
will harvest its crops in Tulu Kapi and TKGM will clear new farm
lands to assist the community's re-establishment of
livelihoods.
As part of this plan, TKGM has recently completed the Project
wet season base line environmental surveys and also community
socio-economic surveys. The Project, which is designed to comply
with national and international environmental and social standards
(in particular Equator Principles and World Bank Standards), will
be directly employing and training over 1,000 people by the end of
2019 if all goes according to plan, and is expected to generate
significant indirect benefits to local and regional stakeholders
for the long term, in addition to export revenues of approximately
US$200 million per annum.
This overall Project plan and timetable complements the work
being done with the other consortium members and is focused on
starting construction in early 2019 and commissioning production
during H2 2020. Project activities on the ground in the next month
will include site surveys and geotechnical drilling of final
foundation layouts for on-site infrastructure.
The recent leadership changes in Federal and Oromia Regional
Governments have unleashed a progressive transformation across
Ethiopia and all Tulu Kapi stakeholders are focused on ensuring the
Project proceeds smoothly. The Oromia Regional Government is
overseeing the community implementation program to ensure
maintenance of the excellent community relations at Tulu Kapi.
Managing Director of KEFI and Chairman of TKGM, Mr Harry
Anagnostaras-Adams, said "In many ways this is the most welcome
recent development, because it takes years to establish the sort of
trust required for a smooth project launch when a country and
region is going through such rapid change.
"KEFI and its partners in Tulu Kapi Gold Mines deeply appreciate
the support of the community and of the authorities and are
committed to maximising the local benefits of the Project."
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have
been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this
announcement.
Enquiries
KEFI Minerals plc
Harry Anagnostaras-Adams (Managing Director) +357 99457843
John Leach (Finance Director) +357 99208130
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated
Adviser and Joint Broker) +44 20 3470 0470
Ewan Leggat, Jeff Keating, Soltan Tagiev
Brandon Hill Capital Ltd (Joint Broker) +44 20 7936 5200
Oliver Stansfield, Jonathan Evans
IFC Advisory Ltd (Financial PR and IR) +44 20 3934 6630
Tim Metcalfe, Heather Armstrong
Notes to Editor
KEFI Minerals plc
KEFI is focused primarily on the advanced Tulu Kapi Gold Project
development project in Ethiopia, along with its pipeline of other
projects within the highly prospective Arabian-Nubian Shield. KEFI
targets that production at Tulu Kapi generates cash flows for
capital repayments, further exploration and expansion as warranted
and, when appropriate, dividends to shareholders.
KEFI Minerals in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is currently undergoing a remarkable transformation
both politically and economically.
The Tulu Kapi gold project in western Ethiopia is being
progressed towards development, following a grant of a Mining
Licence in April 2015.
The Company has now refined contractual terms for project
construction and operation. Estimates include open pit gold
production of c. 140,000oz pa for a 7-year period. All-in
Sustaining Costs (including operating, sustaining capital and
closure but not including leasing and other financing charges)
remain c. US$800/oz. Tulu Kapi's Ore Reserve estimate totals 15.4Mt
at 2.1g/t gold, containing 1.1Moz.
All aspects of the Tulu Kapi (open pit) gold project have been
reported in compliance with the JORC Code (2012) and subjected to
reviews by appropriate independent experts.
A Preliminary Economic Assessment has been published that
indicates the economic attractiveness of mining the underground
deposit adjacent to the Tulu Kapi open pit, after the start-up of
the open pit and after positive cash flows have begun to repay
project debts. An area of over 1,000 square kilometres adjacent to
Tulu Kapi has been reserved for exploration by KEFI upon
commencement of development, with a view to adding satellite
deposits to development and production plans.
KEFI Minerals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
In 2009, KEFI formed G&M in Saudi Arabia with local Saudi
partner, Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid & Sons Company Limited
("ARTAR"), to explore for gold and associated metals in the
Arabian-Nubian Shield. KEFI has a 40% interest in G&M and is
the operating partner.
ARTAR, on behalf of G&M, holds over 20 EL applications. ELs
are renewable for up to three years and bestow the exclusive right
to explore and to obtain a 30-year exploitation (mining) lease
within the area.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced policies to encourage
minerals exploration and development, and KEFI Minerals supports
this priority by serving as the technical partner within G&M.
ARTAR also serves this government policy as the major partner in
G&M, which is one of the early movers in the modern resurgence
of the Kingdom's minerals sector.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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