KEFI Minerals Plc (LON:KEFI), the gold exploration and development company with projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, has today reported that the residual funding requirement for the Company’s Tulu Kapi gold project (the “Project”), having been reduced from US$289 million in January 2014 to US$32 million following the Oryx Management Limited (“Oryx”) agreement announced on 17 July 2017, has now been further reduced to US$24 million, based on refinements to planned capital expenditure and contingency provisions.
KEFI is now focusing on sourcing part of this residual requirement from a separate finance facility against ore stockpiles which are estimated to include US$15 million of contained gold at start-up of production and part of the remaining requirement from project-level equity, negotiations for which have commenced. It remains KEFI’s preference to retain majority ownership and control of the Project.
KEFI Minerals Plc intends to optimise the finance mix in consultation with the Project syndicate, in particular the Government of Ethiopia and principal financier Oryx, as we approach closing targeted for Q4 2017.
