KEFI Minerals completes placing for £1.85 mln
KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI), the gold and copper explorer with projects in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, said it has completed the "significantly over-subscribed" placing announced last week, and has raised £1.85 million before expenses.
Fox Davies Capital issued 61,666,667 ordinary shares on behalf of KEFI at 3 pence each.
The company's largest shareholder, EMED Mining (LON:EMED, TSE:EMD) subscribed for 3,333,333 shares, and now holds 70,666,247 shares, or 16.56 percent of the capital.
The new funds will be used to progress the current exploration programme in
Saudi Arabia where it operates the 40 per cent held Gold & Minerals joint venture in a strategic alliance with construction and investment group ARTAR.
G&M is targeting gold and copper equivalent discoveries in excess of one million ounces.
The venture has three exploration licences in the kingdom valid for five years, and a further 15 exploration licence applications are pending. A number of new licences are expected to be granted in 2012.
The applications are targeting both gold and copper-gold mineralisation, all of the potential licence areas contain ancient workings, some have visible gold in quartz veins, and two are within 50 kilometres of two operating gold mines.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Geological Surveys departments of the US and of France documented 5,000 mineral occurrences, including over 1,000 for gold. Only 51 of these mineral occurrences were drilled.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is actively encouraging minerals exploration and development and KEFI Minerals supports this priority by serving as the technical partner within G&M, the company said.
Work has commenced at the Selib North exploration licence where new gold bearing structures have been discovered. Mapping and sampling results will be reported when the follow-up work is completed.
The Hikyrin and Hikyrin South exploration licence were granted in January 2012 and surface sampling, mapping and trenching is already underway.
For 2012 KEFI plans to continue mapping and sampling on Selib North, Hikyrin and Hikyrin South and conduct geophysical surveys.
A first phase percussion drilling programme over 7,000 metres is planned to begin in May and target 4 to 5 prospects. This would then be followed up by a 5,000 metres reverse circulation and diamond drilling programme.
KEFI managing director Jeff Rayner commented: "We now have the monies in place to fund our exploration and drilling programmes for the year ahead. We remain fully committed to contributing as technical partner to the G&M joint venture where we see huge potential for serving the Kingdom's policy to develop its growing minerals sector for the long term."
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