KEFI Gold and Copper PLC has announced an upgrade to the resource at the Hawiah copper-gold project in Saudi Arabia.
Hawiah is part of the KEFI-operated joint-venture Gold and Minerals Company Limited.
The resource now amounts to 29mln tonnes at 0.89% copper, 0.94% zinc, 0.67 grams per tonne gold and 10.1 grams silver, an increase of 4.1mln tonnes.
Total contained metal is 258,000 tonnes of copper, 272,000 tonnes of zinc, 620,000 ounces of gold and 9.4mln ounces of silver.
Drilling commencing in the second quarter of 2023 is aimed at extending planned mine life by further increasing the resource and converting more inferred resources to the indicated category.
"The updated mineral resource estimate for the Hawiah copper-gold project achieved our key objectives: a tonnage increase of approximately 16%, plus a higher overall increase in metal content due to overall improved grades, plus the increase in the Indicated Resource category, plus the increased open pittable component,” said Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, executive chairman of KEFI.
"The Hawiah preliminary feasibility study is progressing well and additional drilling during 2023 is being designed to further increase and upgrade the resource. KEFI now has a platform of three advanced projects for development in the next few years: the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia which is advancing to full project launch in light of the improvements in the Ethiopian working environment during the past twelve months and for which a formal update will be announced shortly, the now larger Hawiah copper-gold project in Saudi Arabia, and the Jibal Qutman gold project, also in Saudi Arabia."