Aim-listed Kefi Gold and Copper has broken ground at the Tulu Kapi gold project, in Ethiopia, which will produce about 140 000 oz/y of gold from 2027.

The start of construction at the project comes after Kefi undertook more than 10 years of development and preparation since acquiring the project between 2013 and 2014.

The ceremony was officiated by Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Ethiopian State President of Oromia Shimelis Abdisa, as well as other senior government, local community representatives and other project stakeholders.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place at the construction site of the new precinct in the local village of Genji being built by Kefi’s subsidiary Tulu Kapi Gold Mines (TKGM) to house resettled farmers from the Tulu Kapi mining licence area.

This is part of the livelihood restoration and development programme being undertaken by TKGM as part of the project, which includes financial compensation, new farmlands, vocational training and education and health facilities.

Kefi founder and executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said he was honoured and proud to be entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the Tulu Kapi project, which Kefi considered to be Africa’s highest-grade and highest-recovery gold development.

“Having been banked by major African development institutions, as well as international mining specialist investors, we have designed and now implement all aspects of the project to the highest Ethiopian and international standards for environment, social, technical and financial disciplines,” he stated.

Tulu Kapi will initially produce gold from an openpit but there is potential for underground expansion. About 1.2-million ounces of gold will be produced over the current projected mine life of 10 years.

Meanwhile, Kefi also announced that an existing investor, Jonathan Evans, exercised broker warrants and as a result had been issued with 9.8-million new ordinary shares in the company for aggregate gross proceeds of £54 000.

Following the issue of the broker warrant shares, the company’s total issued share capital will be made up of 10.7-billion shares.