Kefi awarded Konso Critical Metals licence in Ethiopia

The AIM-traded firm said the licence, granted to its wholly owned subsidiary Kefi Minerals Ethiopia (KME), would provide 100% ownership of the 22-square-kilometre site, marking a significant addition to its growth pipeline in the Arabian-Nubian Shield.

It said the Konso Project, located around 635 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa near Arba Minch, was previously explored by the Ethiopian Geological Survey and global mining major Vale.

Vale's work, prior to its withdrawal from Ethiopia in 2012, identified extensive zones of copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum group metals.

The project also featured tantalum and lithium-bearing pegmatites that were not a focus during Vale's tenure but were now considered promising targets.

Kefi said it planned to concentrate initial exploration efforts on copper and tantalum, capitalising on their strong long-term market potential.

The company said it would start with mapping, trenching, and geophysics, leveraging existing data from Vale, including 2,500 geological data points, 3,000 kilometres of electromagnetic surveys, and thousands of soil and rock chip samples.

Kefi explained that the project’s pegmatites exhibited similarities to world-class deposits such as Kenticha in Ethiopia, Greenbushes in Australia, and Altia No 3 in China.

That, the board said, positioned Konso as a potential hub for tantalum and lithium production, critical to the global electrification and energy transition.

Kefi said its established presence in Ethiopia and the country’s growing pro-mining stance facilitated the acquisition of the licence.

The initial three-year term for the Konso licence included renewal options, contingent on demonstrable progress.

Kefi said its team, experienced in Ethiopian mining projects, would mobilise quickly to execute the initial work programme.

“We report today the first of a number of opportunities we plan to pursue via our Ethiopian holding company Kefi Minerals Ethiopia, KME,” said executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.

“We intend to progress exploration and, in due course, to establish focused regional alliances to pursue the cherry-picked critical metals opportunities wherever warranted.

“The regional exploration team has been busy quietly building our pipeline over the past few years under Dr Kebede Belete, who was instrumental in the discovery and progression of the high-grade Tulu Kapi Gold Project - Kefi’s flagship project.”

Anagnostaras-Adams said the firm’s portfolio of assets in Ethiopia was now expected to grow, adding that the company looked forward to providing further updates on that and its expected Ethiopian Stock Exchange listing of KME securities, which he said was designed to unlock additional subsidiary funding sources from qualified investors in Ethiopia who Kefi was developing relationships with.

“These funding strategies, as with those already being successfully applied for our flagship Tulu Kapi Gold Project, are designed to enable Kefi to maximise local alliancing whilst minimising financial reliance on the plc level.”

At 1358 GMT, shares in Kefi Gold and Copper were down 0.38% at 0.52p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.