JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold exploration and development company Kefi Minerals has had a “very good” 12 months in which it has made solid progress towards becoming a gold production company, said Kefi executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams on Tuesday.
“The calm and prodevelopment situation in Ethiopia, combined with the financing proposals being considered by the company, makes the board confident that our Tulu Kapi gold project will start development in 2017,” he stated.
Anagnostaras-Adams said that despite the Ethiopian government declaring a six-month state of emergency in October, the Tulu Kapi funding process remained ongoing with a predominant focus on those potential financiers who are “unfazed” by the geopolitical context, being well-established in the region themselves.
Nonetheless, he noted that Kefi had reduced its spending rate and its directors’ aggregate remuneration for the quarter would be paid in shares, as was in effect the case for financial years 2014 and 2015 when share placing participation by the directors totalled 98% of aggregate cash-based remuneration.
Anagnostaras-Adams commented that Kefi had also received formal confirmation that its refund is currently due for payment for the equivalent of £2.5-million from the Ethiopian tax authorities, having completed repayment of the inherited reverse value-added tax liability within the agreed three-year schedule to December.