KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) chairman Harry Adams has said the company is now working concurrently through finance closing and launch procedures for its Tulu Kapi mine in Ethiopia.
Next steps are formal confirmations of the details of regulatory changes and submissions for final board and committee approval by the financing syndicate.
Following that, it will move to the final preparations of the community for the project launch. definitive sign-off, arrange insurance and start to draw the construction capital.
In a statement ahead of KEFI's AGM, Adams added: “We have conditionally assembled 95% of the project funding requirement of US$390mln, with the remainder also allocated with a specific set of parties and expected to simultaneously close their binding commitments alongside the others, for construction start in the fourth quarter of 2023."
“The end result will be the launch of Ethiopia's first industrial-scale mining project,” he added.
Tulu Kapi is one of KEFI's three advanced projects, the other two being Jibal Qutman gold and Hawiah copper-gold in Saudi Arabia