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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in KEFI Minerals PLC rose Friday as the company said it has signed a binding investment agreement for its Tulu Kapi project for at least USD30 million.
The deal has been signed with ANS Mining Share Co, who will take a 23% stake in the project, and it could also invest up to USD38 million to increase this to 29%.
KEFI said the first instalment will be USD9 million for 7%, and then between USD21 million and USD29 million at or before the full close of development funding. KEFI hopes to have this done in early 2019.
The investment is still reliant of the approval of the Ethiopian government, but KEFI expects this "punctually".
Finance Director John Leach commented: "The signing of the binding agreement for project-level equity is a watershed moment for KEFI. We have successfully assembled all the equity development capital at the project level, based on significant local financial institutional support for project equity investment."
"KEFI's majority interest in the project gives the company an implied valuation of USD66 million based on these transaction metrics, whilst not including any value for the Tulu Kapi underground deposit or the exploration prospects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, the largest countries within the highly prospective Arabian Nubian shield where KEFI is focused."
