Yesterday evening KEFI announced the successful conclusion of US$240m in senior project debt capital for its Tulu Kapi project in Ethiopia (accounting for 70% of the total). Focus will now shift to closing the US$100m equity risk portion of project funding outstanding. At least US$40m of this has already been accounted for by KEFI itself and the Ethiopian government, with the balance of US$60m reported as being oversubscribed, with non-binding offers which the company can now finalise. Detailed documentation for the whole integrated package of equity, debt and insurance can now also be finalised and the company will convene general meetings of KEFI and its subsidiaries in November in order to approve those elements of the finance package requiring shareholder consent. KEFI will then also publish details of the finalised equity risk capital instruments employed, albeit they are already known to include a non-convertible preference share, a subordinated equity risk note structured as a ‘gold prepayment’ or ‘stream’ and ordinary equity at one or other Ethiopian subsidiary level to leave KEFI with a c 80% beneficial interest in Tulu Kapi. In the meantime, community resettlement continues apace at the same time as new all-weather access roads are constructed to site and the project is connected to Ethiopia’s electricity grid.

Since our last note at the end of March, KEFI has appointed BCM as its preferred mining contractor and raised £7.6m in equity (supported by Konwave, Phoenix, Premier Miton, RAB and Ruffer, among others) to expedite the launch of the Tulu Kapi project. On site, it has constructed a new access road, a temporary construction camp, security camps and logistics control rooms, as well as drilling water boreholes and completing contractors’ certifiers’ inspections. New host lands have been allocated for all local residents requiring resettlement, and property surveys for compensation for Phase 1 resettlement, for a temporary construction camp, security camps and for a new access road have all been completed. This week, it announced the triggering of compensation payments to the resettling community. As a result, its US$320m financing package is now entering its final stages, with independent certifications targeted for completion this month and definitive agreements next month, followed by drawdown and mobilisation shortly thereafter. With contractual finalisation imminent, KEFI’s shares are at a key inflection point, with the company now targeting first gold in late FY27.