LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Gold and copper explorer and developer Kefi announced the renewal of the Jibal Qutman exploration licence in Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said the licence included the previously-announced mineral resource of 733,000 ounces, which forms the basis of the ongoing definitive feasibility study and development plan through its Gold and Minerals (G&M) joint venture in the country.

It said the renewal would "open the way" for the start of field programmes and environmental studies, necessary for the award of the mining licence.

G&M is 30%-owned by Kefi, and 70% by its partner Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid and Sons (Artar).

The company said the licence was renewed on a five-year term, covering 99.68 square kilometres, adding that field programmes, including the construction of the pioneer's camp, environmental baseline studies and geotechnical and metallurgical diamond drilling, would now begin.

It said the two million tonnes-per-annum carbon-in-leach definitive feasibility study was on target for completion at the end of the fourth quarter, or early in the first quarter of 2023, with environmental permits targeted for the first three months of next year.

The licence would give the company access to a 270 square kilometre exploration area, which also consists of the recently-issued Jibal Qutman North and Jibal Qutman Southeast exploration licences, covering a "significant portion" of the highly-prospective Nabitah-Tathlith gold belt.

At the same time, Kefi said G&M had started discussions with the Saudi Investment Development Fund (SIDF) over project funding, to be finalised once the mining licence was awarded.

"The re-issuance of the Jibal Qutman exploration licence is a critical milestone on the Jibal Qutman road to gold production," said executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.

"As previously announced, this licence, which covers the main Jibal Qutman resource area, will allow the exploration and project teams to re-enter the site and complete the field work and testing required to close out the definitive feasibility study by the start of next year which will then be used to support the mining licence application.

"The exploration teams are also excited to get back into the field and start the process of expanding the existing resource at Jibal Qutman and making new discoveries in this highly prospective 270 square kilometre land package that has been created for Kefi's G&M joint venture."

At 1449 BST, shares in Kefi Gold and Copper were down 0.92% at 0.59p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.

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