KEFI Gold and Copper (AIM: KEFI) has successfully undertaken an oversubscribed fundraising for gross cash proceeds of £8 million.
The company will raise £4.4 million through the issue of 550,000,000 new Ordinary Firm Placing Shares and a further £3.6 million through the issue of 450,000,000 Ordinary Shares as a Conditional Placing.
The gross Placing proceeds of £8.0 million will mainly be used to fund the following:
- selected development activities at the Company’s Tulu Kapi Gold Project which will continue as authorised by the Ethiopian Government, particularly with a view to confirming security conditions are conducive for full project launch and financial close at the end of Q2 2022;
- commencement of additional exploration works at satellite deposits in the Tulu Kapi District, Ethiopian Government permitting, in order to implement longstanding plans designed to expand or extend production and uplift the community benefits and the economics of the Tulu Kapi development still further;
- to contribute the Company’s share of exploration at the Hawiah Gold and Copper Project with a view to increasing the existing resources of 24.9 million tonnes at 0.90% copper, 0.85% zinc, 0.62 g/t gold and 9.81 g/t silver. In addition, funds will enable further work at the adjacent Al Godeyer licence areas following the highly encouraging results as announced in Q1 2022, which suggested the potential for another discovery similar to Hawiah; and
- for general working capital purposes.
“The Placing is to reinforce the rapid advancement of our three advanced projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. The Placing Shares, combined with the exercise of the Warrants and those from the placing announced on December 21, 2021, are intended to provide an additional c. £22.3 million (c. US$29 million) of share capital, designed not only to complete the last piece of the planned Tulu Kapi project financing package of c. US$356 million, but also build on the ongoing success we are seeing in our exploration programmes in Saudi Arabia,” Chairman, Harry Anagnostaras Adams, said,
“In Ethiopia our subsidiary has historically invested approximately US$70 million in the Tulu Kapi project and we are now at the stage to increase development and also exploration activities, as allowed by the Government authorities, to demonstrate both our good faith and to also show that security is appropriate for full project launch from mid-2022. This is very important as we have now conditionally lined up all the equity and debt funds required for full development project financing and the finance syndicate is keen to work very closely with the Government to ensure security and all regulatory clearances are in order.
“For our two projects in Saudi Arabia, Hawiah Copper-Gold and Jibal Qutman Gold, we must contribute our 30% share to the joint venture to ensure that we accelerate the drilling and development studies on our significant discoveries.
“At the recently granted Al Godeyer Licence we will look to undertake further drilling on identified targets which have yielded rock chip grades of up to 1.8% copper and 7.2g/t gold from surface trenching. KEFI remains optimistic that discoveries here are similar to those reported for the adjacent Hawiah deposit, which itself remains subject to further extensive exploration in 2022 as the existing resources remain open and additional targets have been identified.
“At our Jibal Qutman Gold Project, our joint venture is also optimistic of receiving a Mining Licence this year and this capital raise will ensure the Company is well positioned to meet its share of preliminary development planning for the low-cost/quick-to-start heap leach operation.
“We have the opportunity to build substantial value from de-risking and advancing the three projects. The Company’s internal NPV (8% after tax) on the three projects (at current metal prices as at 18 April 2022) indicates a combined NPV of 12 pence per share, after dilution from the Placing announced today. Therefore, we know that there is considerable merit in putting the capital in the ground and pushing the Company towards its goal of becoming a mid-tier gold and copper producer.”
For further information please visit: https://www.kefi-minerals.com/
