Another Discovery in Saudi Arabia – Abu Salal

Kefi Gold and Copper PLC
19 February 2024
 

19 February 2024

KEFI Gold and Copper plc

("KEFI" or the "Company")

Another Discovery in Saudi Arabia - Abu Salal

Abu Salal Becomes the Third Discovery in the Hawiah Copper-Gold District

KEFI Gold and Copper Plc (AIM: KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and development company with a first-mover advantage in Saudi Arabia, is pleased to announce the discovery of a third copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit in the broader Hawiah district by the Company's Gold & Minerals Ltd ("GMCO") joint venture.

Highlights

·    GMCO has discovered another Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposit, at Abu Salal, which becomes the third discovery in the Hawiah Copper-Gold district following the original Hawiah discovery when drilling commenced in 2019, and the subsequent Al Godyer discovery announced in 2022:

o The Abu Salal VMS deposit is located 50km south of GMCO's Hawiah Copper-Gold project ("Hawiah") in the central portion of the Wadi Bidah Mineral Belt ("Wadi Bidah"), straddling GMCO's Abu Salal North and South exploration licences

o Drilling has intercepted massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralisation containing copper, gold, zinc and silver, in multiple horizons, across a 2,600m strike length, with true widths of up to 11m, indicated by the first-pass 18-hole (2,009m) scout drilling programme

o This north-south trending gossan horizon, remains open at depth, along strike and down plunge

o Assays of Abu Salal's sulphide mineralisation has returned multiple grade intervals of comparable to those at GMCO's Hawiah discovery, which already ranks in the top three of base metals projects in Saudi Arabia

Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, KEFI's Executive Chairman commented: "Ongoing exploration near our Hawiah copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit has now quickly yielded two additional discoveries, Al Godeyer and Abu Salal. 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.

 

"Abu Salal is some 50km south of Hawiah and we have already identified a number of additional targets showing similar geological characteristics that are to be drill tested. Interestingly we note that Ivanhoe Electric, through its JV with the State mining company (Ma'aden), has committed to +US$60M of exploration in Saudi Arabia and more specifically has picked up licences in and around Hawiah not held by GMCO, and confirmed this district as amongst their top four exploration priorities in Saudi Arabia.

 

"As previously reported, Saudi Arabia has opened up its exploration and mining sector and we are seeing leading global explorers and producers enter into the Kingdom for the first time. KEFI's first-mover advantage, through GMCO, has ensured the Company has secured some of the most prospective licences in Saudi Arabia and we believe we will continue to make significant additional discoveries, as well as expanding our existing discoveries, through our active exploration programmes, which have been running at a rate of approximately US$20M per annum for the past few years.

 

"Later this quarter we will be issuing an update on Hawiah and Al Godeyer following the positive work programmes that have 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."

 

VMS Discovery at Abu Salal

The Abu Salal VMS deposit is located 50km south of Hawiah in the central portion of the Wadi Bidah Mineral Belt, straddling GMCO's Abu Salal North and South Exploration Licences ("EL's").

 

Scout drilling has intercepted massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralisation beneath the 2,600m discontinuously-outcropping, north-south trending gossan horizon, which remains open at depth, along strike and down plunge.

 

Final assay results have been received from the first-pass 18-hole (2,009m) programme designed to follow-up positive trenching and geophysical results completed in 2022. This programme represents the first time that drilling has ever taken place at Abu Salal.

 

Intersections in the fresh sulphide domain have confirmed copper-zinc-gold-silver mineralisation with multiple intercepts demonstrating grade intervals comparable to the Hawiah and Al Godeyer VMS deposits. The initial interpretation is that the mineralisation represents the fringe environment of a VMS system, with alteration minerals, typically associated within the footwall/hangingwall environments of VMS deposits not observed. Sulphides are typically fine grained, dominantly pyrite with lesser chalcopyrite and sphalerite. These interpretations are important for guiding the next stages of exploration.

 

The westerly dipping sulphide mineralisation has a true width of up to 11m and is hosted in a meta-volcanic to sedimentary back-arc environment rock package analogous to the geology of the wider Wadi Bidah.

 

Highlights from the scout drilling programme include:

 

-     ASD_004: 11.2m at 0.94% copper, 1.03% zinc, 0.33g/t gold and 14.96g/t silver from 27.9m;

-     ASD_008: 7.0m at 0.91% copper, 0.4% zinc, 4.0g/t silver from 36.0m; and

-     ASD_009: 7.1m at 0.6% copper, 1.0% zinc, 0.2g/t gold and 10.9g/t silver from 72.0m.

 

The moderate dip of the deposit indicates that intersected intervals are a good approximation of the true width of mineralisation.

 

The targeting of this Abu Salal drilling programme was guided by a detailed understanding of the geological genesis of the region developed over the past five years. The success of this drilling is a proof of concept for the exploration of these VMS targets throughout the Wadi Bidah. The scout drilling at Abu Salal has allowed the team to gain insights into the geometry of the mineralised horizon as well as the structural controls on mineralisation. At this stage, drilling has only tested to a maximum vertical depth of 80m and on limited portions of the full strike.

 

Follow-up exploration activities in 2024 will focus on drill testing deeper portions of the system to further assess grade and geological continuity, guided by deeper penetrating geophysics and geological modelling. The upcoming programme will also look to extend the known mineralisation down plunge and along strike.

 

As previously reported, KEFI's GMCO joint venture partner, ARTAR, temporarily funds the ongoing programme at present to ensure swift progress continues whilst KEFI triggers project launch in Ethiopia at the high-grade Tulu Kapi Gold Project. This reflects the strong partnership relationship and the combined priority given to production start-up in both countries.

 

Competent Person Statement

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results and Mineral Resources is based on information compiled by Mr Tomos Bryan, Exploration Manager for Gold & Minerals Limited. Mr Bryan is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy ("AusIMM"). Mr Bryan is a geologist with sufficient relevant experience for Company reporting to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012. Mr Bryan consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the non-financial matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears. KEFI confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information in the above releases and that all material assumptions and technical parameters, underpinning the estimates continue to apply and have not materially changed. KEFI confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person's finding.

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

Enquiries

 

KEFI Gold and Copper plc

 

Harry Anagnostaras-Adams (Managing Director)

+357 99457843

John Leach (Finance Director)

+357 99208130



SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser)

+44 (0) 20 3470 0470

Jeff Keating, Adam Cowl




Tavira Securities Limited (Lead Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7100 5100

Oliver Stansfield, Jonathan Evans


 


IFC Advisory Ltd (Financial PR and IR)

+44 (0) 20 3934 6630

Tim Metcalfe, Florence Chandler




3PPB LLC International (Institutional IR)


Patrick Chidley

+1 (917) 991 7701

Paul Durham

+1 (203) 940 2538



 

Appendix 1 - Diagrams

 

A map of the desert Description automatically generated

Figure 1 - Location map of Abu Salal relative to the Hawiah project

Figure 2 - Geological map of the Abu Salal Project showing diamond drill hole collars and trench lines to date


Figure 3 - Long section of the Abu Salal deposit displaying mineralised intercepts downhole and on trenches (red cylinders) with highlight assay results

 


Appendix 2 - Relevant Collar and Assay information for Abu Salal

Table 1- Trench and Drill collar information for Abu Salal

Hole_ID

Type

UTM Zone

UTM Easting

UTM Northing

Elevation

Azimuth

Dip

Depth

ASD_001

Diamond

37N

754603

2288346

1403

133

55

250.50

ASD_002

Diamond

37N

754889

2289279

1398

113

55

150.50

ASD_003

Diamond

37N

754914

2289365

1398

112

55

125.50

ASD_004

Diamond

37N

754959

2289803

1388

100

45

100.60

ASD_005

Diamond

37N

754949

2289904

1385

095

45

100.90

ASD_006

Diamond

37N

754975

2290535

1386

090

55

100.70

ASD_007

Diamond

37N

754612

2288306

1402

125

45

119.50

ASD_008

Diamond

37N

754870

2289208

1406

101

55

91.60

ASD_009

Diamond

37N

754584

2288266

1400

120

45

101.80

ASD_010

Diamond

37N

754967

2289990

1385

096

45

80.50

ASD_011

Diamond

37N

754979

2289712

1394

093

45

70.60

ASD_012

Diamond

37N

754697

2288380

1408

135

45

150.50

ASD_013b

Diamond

37N

754908

2289808

1388

100

50

140.50

ASD_014

Diamond

37N

754862

2289385

1402

111

55

134.50

ASD_015

Diamond

37N

754885

2289161

1406

106

45

70.50

ASD_016

Diamond

37N

754838

2289177

1401

106

55

100.60

ASD_017

Diamond

37N

755096

2290779

1392

095

45

60.50

ASD_018b

Diamond

37N

755040

2290777

1390

095

45

59.50

AST_001

Trench

37N

754631

2288325

1402

131

0

114.00

AST_002

Trench

37N

754702

2288370

1406

136

0

130.00

AST_003

Trench

37N

754800

2288476

1408

131

0

61.00

AST_004

Trench

37N

754912

2288712

1412

102

0

39.00

AST_005

Trench

37N

754912

2289270

1399

114

0

55.00

AST_006

Trench

37N

754938

2289357

1400

115

0

55.00

AST_007

Trench

37N

754753

2288420

1404

135

0

71.00

AST_008

Trench

37N

754672

2288365

1405

085

0

22.00

AST_009

Trench

37N

754663

2288398

1409

093

0

22.00

AST_010

Trench

37N

754990

2289916

1388

096

0

42.66

AST_011

Trench

37N

755019

2290527

1387

093

0

40.84

AST_012a

Trench

37N

755056

2290777

1390

096

0

43.13

AST_012b

Trench

37N

755111

2290771

1390

097

0

32.00

AST_013

Trench

37N

754992

2289989

1383

096

0

38.49

AST_014

Trench

37N

755009

2290066

1382

098

0

30.37

AST_015

Trench

37N

754997

2289805

1388

100

0

38.46

AST_016

Trench

37N

754916

2289203

1403

100

0

35.20

AST_017

Trench

37N

754593

2288277

1401

109

0

96.00

AST_018

Trench

37N

754985

2289421

1406

107

0

32.13

AST_019

Trench

37N

755016

2290140

1382

099

0

30.70

AST_020

Trench

37N

755004

2289493

1403

098

0

30.00

AST_021

Trench

37N

755028

2290238

1383

097

0

31.26

AST_022

Trench

37N

755012

2289576

1400

093

0

20.02

AST_023

Trench

37N

755037

2290310

1383

099

0

28.23

AST_024

Trench

37N

755015

2289647

1396

098

0

26.54

AST_025

Trench

37N

755042

2290421

1386

094

0

29.92

AST_026

Trench

37N

755008

2289716

1394

100

0

27.00

AST_027

Trench

37N

755018

2290628

1384

097

0

28.51

AST_028

Trench

37N

754988

2289863

1389

096

0

50.00

AST_029

Trench

37N

754985

2290322

1383

112

0

21.00

AST_030

Trench

37N

754930

2289721

1394

103

0

12.00

AST_031

Trench

37N

754570

2288199

1399

095

0

68.00

AST_032

Trench

37N

755326

2287047

1431

138

0

68.00

AST_033

Trench

37N

755289

2287828

1418

094

0

68.00

AST_034

Trench

37N

754920

2289191

1405

105

0

21.00

AST_035

Trench

37N

754918

2289178

1405

106

0

17.00

AST_036

Trench

37N

754916

2289172

1405

111

0

19.00

AST_037

Trench

37N

754915

2289121

1405

101

0

20.00

Table 2 - Mineralised intervals for the Scout Drilling programme at Abu Salal - Copper Equivalency calculated on a price of copper US$8,500t, zinc $2,350t, gold US$1900oz, silver US$23.5oz

 

Hole

From (m)

To (m)

Interval (m)

Cu%

Zn%

Au ppm

Ag ppm

CuEq %

ETW

Comment

ASD_001

54.4

54.7

0.3

0.08

0.80

0.04

1.70

0.35

0.30

 

63.2

63.6

0.4

0.44

0.49

0.00

1.90

0.61

0.35

 

69.05

69.65

0.6

2.44

0.99

0.25

12.60

3.00

0.45

 

ASD_002

61

62

1

0.83

1.46

0.27

10.55

1.52

1.00

 

ASD_003

27.15

31.3

4.15

0.51

0.28

0.01

1.37

0.94

4.15

 

56.92

60.35

3.43

0.39

1.30

0.44

15.48

1.20

3.10

 

66.62

68.3

1.68

0.22

0.46

0.15

6.71

0.52

1.55

 

ASD_004

27.9

39.2

11.3

0.94

1.03

0.33

14.96

1.59

11.20

 

27.9

28.88

0.98

2.07

1.61

0.31

18.40

2.90

0.95

Including

31.42

32.59

1.17

1.38

2.00

0.67

28.70

2.67

1.05

36.4

39.2

2.8

2.28

1.65

0.80

38.52

3.65

2.80

44.21

46.33

2.12

0.45

0.54

0.15

7.02

0.77

2.12

 

ASD_005

37.2

39.02

1.82

0.43

1.04

0.10

5.82

0.85

1.63

 

54.16

55.5

1.34

0.31

0.98

0.20

7.22

0.79

1.28

 

50.68

51.64

0.96

0.45

1.64

0.45

14.50

1.35

0.90

 

ASD_006

30.9

32

1.1

0.43

0.52

0.12

5.38

0.71

1.10

 

ASD_007

10

11

1

1.46

0.68

0.04

1.65

1.69

1.00

 

71.13

71.58

0.45

0.70

2.09

0.39

13.40

1.68

0.40

 

14.15

15.9

1.75

0.09

0.07

2.27

7.71

1.81

1.42

 

58.89

60.81

1.92

0.29

0.70

0.30

8.04

0.77

1.90

 

ASD_008

36

43

7

0.91

0.40

0.09

4.20

1.12

7.00

 

36

38.38

2.38

1.65

0.78

0.26

13.14

2.17

2.38

Including

67.27

68.55

1.28

1.07

2.39

0.61

21.25

2.35

1.28

 

ASD_009

14.19

14.85

0.66

1.43

0.08

0.07

4.08

1.54

0.66

 

22.85

25.4

2.55

0.81

0.59

0.13

6.02

1.12

2.55

 

68.3

69.87

1.57

0.91

1.40

0.39

20.77

1.76

1.33

 

72

84.15

12.15

0.46

0.77

0.19

8.30

0.88

10.45

 

72

79.07

7.07

0.63

0.98

0.24

10.90

1.16

7.07

Including

ASD_010

32.1

33.05

0.95

0.75

1.34

0.20

11.71

1.37

0.90

 

41.9

44.03

2.13

0.20

0.72

0.18

6.60

0.59

1.50

 

ASD_011

34.2

36.1

1.9

3.18

0.70

0.32

14.01

3.72

1.90

 

ASD_012

24

29

5

2.31

0.16

0.02

0.54

2.37

5.00

 

41.3

42.63

1.33

0.01

0.70

0.01

0.50

0.21

1.33


ASD_013

50.4

51.5

1.1

0.48

1.53

0.14

6.28

1.06

1.10


ASD_014

74.14

74.65

0.51

0.39

1.35

0.11

6.40

0.89

0.51


99.5

102.85

3.35

0.48

2.26

0.42

16.33

1.55

3.35


104

104.3

0.3

0.48

0.62

0.23

5.20

0.87

0.30


ASD_015

21

22.6

1.6

0.11

0.46

0.97

4.20

0.95

1.60


22.6

25

2.4

0.08

0.11

1.23

4.97

1.04

2.40


38.5

39.35

0.85

1.39

0.03

0.25

22.60

1.78

0.85


47.5

49.5

2

2.17

1.70

0.41

20.10

3.11

2.00


ASD_016

 

47.7

49.65

1.95

0.71

1.61

0.26

11.90

1.45

1.80


85.07

86.75

1.68

0.51

1.76

0.35

14.52

1.38

1.50


ASD_018b

16.5

22.2

5.7

0.08

0.18

0.25

3.96

0.34

5.00


 

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