(Sharecast News) - Kefi Gold and Copper unveiled a significant discovery in Saudi Arabia's Hawiah district on Monday, marking the third copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit found in the area by its joint venture Gold & Minerals (GMCO).
The AIM-traded firm said the latest find, named the Abu Salal VMS deposit, followed the original Hawiah discovery in 2019 and the subsequent Al Godyer discovery in 2022.
Located 50 kilometres south of GMCO's Hawiah Copper-Gold project, Abu Salal spanned the central portion of the Wadi Bidah Mineral Belt, straddling GMCO's Abu Salal North and South exploration licences.
Initial drilling revealed extensive massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralisation containing copper, gold, zinc, and silver across a 2,600-metre strike length.
True widths of up to 11 metres had been observed in multiple horizons, as indicated by the first-pass 18-hole scout drilling program covering 2,009 metres.
The board said the north-south trending gossan horizon at Abu Salal remained open at depth, along strike, and down plunge, suggesting the potential for further discoveries.
Assays of the sulphide mineralisation returned multiple grade intervals comparable to those found at GMCO's Hawiah discovery, already ranked among the top three base metals projects in Saudi Arabia.
"Ongoing exploration near our Hawiah copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit has now quickly yielded two additional discoveries, Al Godeyer and Abu Salal," said executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.
"Discovery of the latter has further strengthened our view that the Hawiah deposit itself is only the first in a cluster of deposits, as often occurs with this style of mineralisation, in a much broader district."
Anagnostaras-Adams said later in the quarter, the company would issue an update on Hawiah and Al Godeyer following the positive work programmes that had taken place.
"The metal content already reported at Hawiah is the gold equivalent of the company's other development assets - Tulu Kapi in Ethiopia and Jibal Qutman in Saudi Arabia - prior to any further additional expansion.
"We are therefore highly encouraged to have made the Abu Salal discovery, which once fully appraised will no doubt significantly increase our resources in the Hawiah district still further."
At 1138 GMT, shares in Kefi Gold and Copper were up 9.91% at 0.71p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Kefi Gold (KEFI)