KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) has been awarded two additional exploration licences via its joint venture company Gold and Minerals Limited in Saudi Arabia.
G&M is owned 30% by KEFI and 70% by its partner Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid and Sons Ltd, known as ARTAR.
The licences, Jibal Hillit and Qunnah, have been awarded on an initial five-year term.
Gold grades of up to 15.3 grams per tonne (g/t) have been recorded at Jabal Hillit and up to 46 g/t at Qunnah, hosted in quartz-veins.
Jabal Hillit represents the more advanced licence with 20 mapped gold occurrences across five main vein packages cutting across the licence.
Veins have been shown to strike discontinuously for 1,500 metres (m), with widths of up to 2.5m, hosted within meta-volcanic units.
The Qunnah exploration licence area also presents with gold-bearing, structurally controlled quartz veins within three main areas. As with Jabal Hillit, large crush and dump piles can be found across the tenement with ancient miners clearly targeting the quartz-vein gold mineralisation.
The G&M regional exploration team are gearing up for a busy summer of mapping and sampling within these new licences to ground-truth historical data, extend the known limits of mineralisation and define the structural framework controlling mineralisation, ahead of more advanced exploration works this year.
Meanwhile, discussions regarding a mining licence for the Jibal Qutman project are continuing.
G&M has already engaged Lycopodium (ASX:LYL) to complete a detailed feasibility study for Jibal Qutman by December 2022.
"Work in Saudi Arabia is gathering pace on many fronts,” said Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, executive chairman of KEFI.
“Our Hawiah project is firmly on track for the delivery of the preliminary feasibility study by year end, we have exciting developments on the Jibal Qutman gold project and now the granting of these two additional exploration licenses. The award of the exploration licences, which contain known high-grade gold occurrences, provides an exciting opportunity to make further discoveries at a time where the country is focused on developing its mineral resources.”