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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR

Kefi at the starting block

efi Gold and Copper plc tium,” Anagnostaras-Adams
Kexecutive chairman Harry told Africa Down Under via
Anagnostaras-Adams is con- video link.
fident it will be a case of third “Obviously with the wonder-
time lucky for his company in ful, overwhelming transforma-
tying up the required funding to tion that’s taken place in Ethio-
develop the Tulu Kapi gold pro- pia since 2018 with the new
ject in Ethiopia. government leadership, it all
Subject to final due diligence augers well now for continua-
to be completed later this tion of a very progressive and
quarter, Kefi was expecting its positive atmosphere for us to
funding consortium of major in- proceed.
dustrial and commodity groups “There are some people in
and African banks to imminent- Africa, some banks in Africa,
ly sign off on a $US221 million Harry Anagnostaras-Adams some investors in Africa who
funding package to give life to care about Ethiopia, who are
an initial 140,000 ozpa mining operation at Tulu Kapi. not scared about Ethiopia and want to be part of Ethiopia with its
Full development activities are scheduled to start early in the new push. I think there’s no substitution for being on the ground
new year. and pushing hard and I’m very pleased and honoured to be part of
Kefi has twice before had its plans to finance the project scup- a team who has been doing the work all these years tenaciously to
pered by ongoing political unrest in Ethiopia, but Anagnostaras- make this happen.”
Adams believes his company now has the right parties involved to Kefi has mapped out a two-year construction and development
overcome any unforeseen challenges that may arise in the country. plan that will see Tulu Kapi being commissioned in late 2022. Final
“I suppose what you could say we’ve done to redress the false contracts for the mine and plant are set to be awarded before the
starts that we suffered with volatility locally…was to solidify the end of this year.
consortium around Ethiopian experienced members of the consor- The DFS has conceptualised a conventional 2 mtpa CIL opera-
tion based around an open pit at Tulu Kapi which Anagnostaras-
Adams compared to gold projects typically found in Western Aus-
tralia’s Eastern Goldfields.
Anagnostaras-Adams is also confident of growing the project’s
resource beyond the current 1.7 moz (indicated).
“It’s easy to visualise 3 moz at Tulu Kapi, but we have to do the
work by following the deposit underground,” he said.
“We don’t see Tulu Kapi as standalone, given the style of miner-
alisation [in the district]. We’ve already had hits at surface where
other Tulu Kapis could be. At the very least I think we’re going to
ASX:WKT end up with a few small pits to supplement Tulu Kapi and we may
well end up with one or two more Tulu Kapis, but we’ll see.
“If you assume just a few small pits, then the combination with
Walkabout Resources Ltd Tulu Kapi I would imagine will have 300,000 ozpa coming out of
is fast tracking the that.”
development of the Lindi While there is almost zero gold production in Ethiopia at present,
Jumbo Project to take Anagnostaras-Adams expects that to grow rapidly towards 1 mo-
advantage of forecast zpa over the next five years.
market conditions for quality Other Ethiopian gold aspirants include Allied Gold Corp, which is
Flake Graphite deposits. developing a project near the border with South Sudan, and recent
In meeting its ongoing ASX listing Megado Gold Ltd.
exploration strategy, the “I’ve spent most of my last six years in Ethiopia and it’s certainly
Company has acquired an exciting, challenging and I believe a country which will be a seri-
exciting portfolio targeting ous player in the minerals sector, because whenever Ethiopia gets
gold, base metals and serious about something it usually works very well,” Anagnostaras-
energy metals in Northern Adams said.
Ireland and Scotland.
“I think the Government is now well and truly coming to grips with
the fact that it takes a lot of proactive effort to facilitate exploration
so that people will take the risk with their capital and their time to
hopefully find an economic deposit.”
WKT.COM.AU
– Michael Washbourne

CAPITALISING ON RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES

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