First Exploration Licence Granted in Saudi Arabia

AIM: KEFI 17th June 2011

                               KEFI Minerals Plc                               

                      ("KEFI Minerals" or the "Company")                       

               First Exploration Licence Granted In Saudi Arabia               

                                      And                                      

                  Approval Received for Two Further Licences                   

KEFI Minerals, an AIM-quoted gold and copper exploration company with projects
in Turkey and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is pleased to announce the grant of
the first mineral Exploration Licence in Saudi Arabia to the Gold & Minerals
("G&M") Joint Venture (the "Licence"). The Licence has been granted by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources ("DMMR").

In addition the Company has received approval from the DMMR for two further
licences and these have been sent for final approval from the Supreme Committee
of Concessions in Riyadh. The Company looks forward to updating the market as
and when these licences are granted.

KEFI Minerals has a 40% interest in the G&M Joint Venture and is the operating
partner. To date the Company has lodged a total of 21 Exploration Licence
Applications ("ELAs") in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that cover an area of
approximately 1,419km2.

This inaugural Licence - for the Selib North Project ("Project"), covers
favourable fault structures and quartz-carbonate veined alteration zones and
contains evidence of ancient hard rock and alluvial workings for gold.

HIGHLIGHTS

  * G&M Joint Venture to immediately commence surface exploration programmes
    over the Project with the aim of generating targets for drill testing as
    soon as possible;
   
  * Limited rock chip sampling, undertaken by G&M during field assessment of
    the area, returned results of up to 2.0g/t gold and 3.7g/t silver from
    quartz-carbonate vein zones located within the Licence;
   
  * Numerous ancient alluvial and elluvial gold workings are located in the
    Licence area; and
   
  * The Licence is renewable for up to five years and gives G&M the exclusive
    right to explore the 75km2 Licence and to obtain a 30-year exploitation
    (mining) lease within the area.
   
KEFI Minerals' Managing Director, Jeff Rayner, commented:

 

"We are delighted that this initial Licence now enables detailed exploration to
commence at the Selib North Project in a highly prospective part of the Arabian
Shield. Our first licence in Saudi Arabia covers more than 10km of a major
crustal fault zone with gold workings at surface that have not been drilled.

"A further 20 ELAs have been lodged by the G&M Joint Venture with Saudi
Arabia's DMMR. Two of these have received approval from the DMMR while a
further three ELA's are at an advanced stage of process and are anticipated to
be granted in the near future."

The Selib North Project (the "Project")

The Project is located in central Saudi Arabia, 65km south-southeast of the Al
Amar Gold Mine, which is currently being operated by Ma'aden, the Saudi Arabian
mining company. In 2007, mineral resources for the Al Amar Gold Mine were
estimated by SRK Consulting to total 2.0 million tonnes at 11.2g/t gold for
722,000 ounces of gold.

The Selib North Licence area is located immediately south of the Fawarah and
immediately north of the Selib gold prospects. The Fawarah, Selib and Selib
North prospects were worked for gold by ancient miners.

Gold at these prospects is hosted in ophiolitic rocks that are cut by the Al
Amar - Idsas fault. The host rocks are mainly serpentinite and listwaenite,
metabasalt and diorite. These are cut by north-striking quartz and carbonate
veins associated with en-echelon veins trending from 450 NW, through east-west
and to 400 SW. The veins, now the sites of ancient trenches, are distributed
over a band 1.8km long and 0.3km wide at Selib, and 2.0km long and 0.2km wide
at Fawarah, and were mainly exploited by panning of crushed quartz and host
rock. The gold is visible in places.

The Selib prospect was explored by the French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques
et Minières ("BRGM") in 1982. Numerous alluvial and elluvial pits mark the base
of the ridge at Selib. The dump sampling returned values of up to 17.8g/t Au
while the geochemical survey outlined three anomalous zones corresponding with
hydrothermal alteration. Results from soil geochemistry defined a 1.8km long
north-south by up to 350m wide east-west anomaly at the 50ppb Au contour with a
maxima of 2,700ppb Au. The geochemical anomalies were tested in three small
areas of the overall 1.8km strike length by the BRGM with 16 percussion drill
holes for a total 1,784m. The best intercept obtained in the drill programme
was 8.4g/t Au over 1.5m.

As at the Selib prospect, the soil and rock anomalies at the Fawarah prospect
correlate very well with the trends of known mineralised structures. Gold in
soils reach a maximum of 2,620ppb Au at Fawarah and anomalies are defined by a
100ppb Au contour. The anomalies outline several discrete areas up to 300m long
and 250m wide. Gold is hosted in quartz lodes in altered gabbro, diorite,
serpentinite, and carbonate rocks. A total of 95 x 0.5m wide channel samples
were collected from numerous trenches. Mineralised zones of >0.2g/t Au attain
widths of up to 20m with maximum values of 8.3g/t Au and 2.3g/t Ag. A total of
four percussion drill holes were drilled for 420m at Fawarah, with a best
result of 3m at 6.78 g/t Au .

No systematic exploration, including soil sampling or drilling was carried out
by the BRGM on the Selib North prospect.

Prior to the granting of the Licence, G&M undertook an extensive technical
evaluation of the geological setting and exploration history of the project
area. Access is good with a paved road close to the northern boundary of the
licence. There is no sand dune cover within the Licence area and the topography
comprises low hills with intervening narrow drainages and alluvial plains.
Limited rock chip sampling, undertaken by G&M during field assessment of the
area, returned results of up to 2.0g/t gold and 3.7g/t silver from
quartz-carbonate vein zones located within the licence. Numerous eluvial and
alluvial workings are located at the base of ridges within the Selib North
licence area.

An initial exploration programme, comprising interpretation of aeromagnetic
data followed by detailed geological mapping and geochemical sampling of
selected targets, will commence immediately.

Enquiries

                                                                               

KEFI Minerals

Jeffrey Rayner [phone]

Fox-Davies Capital

Simon Leathers [phone]

Bishopsgate Communications

Michael Kinirons [phone]

References in this announcement to exploration results and potential have been
approved for release by Mr. Jeffrey Rayner.Mr Rayneris a geologist and has more
than 25years' relevant experience in the field of activity concerned. He is a
Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and has
consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it
appears.

About KEFI Minerals

KEFI Minerals commenced trading on AIM in December 2006 and was formed with the
aim of creating shareholder value through the discovery and exploitation of
gold and copper deposits.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KEFI Minerals has a minerals exploration joint
venture, the Gold & Minerals Joint Venture, with leading Saudi construction and
investment group, Abdul Rahman Saad Al-Rashid & Sons Company Limited ("ARTAR").
KEFI Minerals is the operating partner with a 40% interest and the joint
venture's primary target is the discovery and development of a >1 million ounce
gold deposit in the under-explored Precambrian Shield in Saudi Arabia.

In Turkey, KEFI Minerals currently has the following exploration projects:

 1. At Artvin, in northeastern Turkey, extensive hydrothermal alteration and
    gold and base metal mineralisation have been recognised in the project
    area, as well as historical workings indicating potential for economic
    mineralisation.
   
 2. Bakir Tepe, in southwestern Turkey, is prospective for VHMS polymetallic
    deposits. High-grade gold and copper crop out on the peripheries of a
    shallowly buried geophysical chargeability anomaly.
   
 3. Hasancelebi, in central Turkey, is prospective for high-sulphidation
    epithermal gold mineralisation and Iron-Oxide Copper-Gold ("IOCG")
    mineralisation.
   
KEFI Minerals' Board of Directors is comprised of Mr. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams
(Chairman), Mr. Jeffrey Rayner (Managing Director), Professor Ian Plimer
(Deputy Chairman) and John Leach (Finance Director).

Further information on KEFI Minerals is available at www.kefi-minerals.com and
the Company's AIM code is "KEFI".

                                    -Ends-                                     


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KEFI Minerals Plc

DoÄŸu Akdeniz Mineralleri

San. Tic. Ltd. Åžti.

Cemal Gürsel Cad.

Yalı Apt. No:304

K:4 D:9 Karşıyaka İZMİR

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]