KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) has upgraded its resource estimate for the Jibal Qutman gold project in Saudi Arabia, pushing the total estimated gold to 902,000 ounces.
The increase follows further drilling and analysis, strengthening the company’s case for a long-life, multi-stage open-pit mine.
Indicated resources, which are more certain than inferred resources, have jumped 69% to 748,000 ounces.
That means 83% of the total estimated gold is now in a category that supports mine planning.
KEFI plans to focus first on the easier-to-process oxide ore, using carbon-in-leach technology, with development expected to begin this year.
Chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said: “With the gold price approaching US$3,000/ounce and with low-cost local development capital, fast-tracking an (initially) oxides-focused open-pit, CIL operation at Jibal Qutman is becoming very attractive.”
KEFI’s Saudi joint venture, Gold and Minerals Company, has spent the past two years refining development plans for Jibal Qutman. Additional studies are underway to assess the longer-term potential of the sulphide ore, which requires a different processing approach.
The company has only begun to explore the wider 35-kilometre mineralised zone around Jibal Qutman, with early drilling at the Asfingia prospect already turning up promising gold intercepts. A new geochemical survey and a drone magnetic survey are being used to guide further exploration and expand the resource base.
KEFI last published a resource estimate for Jibal Qutman in 2015, putting the total at 733,000 ounces of gold.
The latest figures mark a 23% increase, with total tonnage up 30% to 37 million tonnes. The boost comes from deeper drilling, better-defined high-grade zones, and a higher gold price making more of the deposit economically viable.
Anagnostaras-Adams said KEFI is also reviewing its Saudi joint venture holding while making progress on its Ethiopian projects.
The company is now preparing to finalise development plans for Jibal Qutman with Saudi authorities before mining begins next year.