LONDON: KEFI Minerals has welcomed the approval by the Saudi Arabian Cabinet in June 2020 of a new Mining Investment Law, which is aimed at boosting the country’s mining industry and is part of Saudi Arabia’s plan to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons.

The Company also welcomes the expanded role of the Saudi Investment Development Fund specifically to support mining project finance.

This new regulatory impetus is expected to also help clarify the path forward to unlock value from KEFI’s Saudi gold discovery at Jibal Qutman, which has been on hold awaiting Mining Licence tenure confirmation.

An Internal Preliminary Economic Assessment in 2015 suggesting estimated operating costs of c. US$600/oz and estimated capital expenditure of US$30 million demonstrate that Jibal Qutman’s Mineral Resources, totalling 733,000 ounces of near-surface gold, should be highly profitable in the current gold price environment.

Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, Executive Chairman of KEFI, commented: “KEFI and our G&M partner ARTAR look forward to participating in the development and expansion of the Saudi Arabian minerals sector, which the Saudi Government has made a national strategic priority. The recent approval by the Saudi Cabinet of the new mining investment law is a very positive development for our Hawiah (copper-gold) and Jibal Qutman (gold) projects in Saudi Arabia.

“The Hawiah deposit is shaping up to have similar mix of metals and to be a larger deposit than the nearby operating Al-Masane underground mine in southwest Saudi Arabia.

“We look forward to releasing the initial Hawiah Mineral Resource in August and thus providing further confirmation that our valuable Hawiah deposit has the scale and grades for a potential long-life, profitable mine. At current copper prices, it is notable that the in-situ value of Hawiah is already likely to be more than US$2.5 billion.”

KEFI Minerals is the gold exploration and development company with projects in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. KEFI’s operations in Saudi Arabia are conducted through its 34% owned joint venture company, Gold and Minerals Co. Limited (G&M), where KEFI is the operating partner.