Exploration company KEFI Gold and Copper – KEFI signs $400m mining services contract with BCM Group in Ethiopia for Tulu Kapi Gold Project.
As per this nine-year mining services contract, BCM is going to provide a variety of mining services comprising the mining fleet, training, and managing locally hired operators.
It will additionally oversee all mining operations under the supervision of the Ethiopian subsidiary of KEFI, Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Share Company.
According to Paul Coe, BCM Group CEO, “BCM is a pioneering mining services group that expanded from Western Australia into West Africa more than 30 years ago. We are proud to support the development of Ethiopia’s mining sector alongside KEFI, particularly given our shared experience of successfully establishing mining projects in emerging jurisdictions, including the Middle East.”
Notably, the contract was concluded in London during the first Ethio-British Investment Forum, which was attended by Gedion Timothewos Hessebon, Ethiopia’s minister of foreign affairs.
Before this agreement, BCM had already mobilized in Ethiopia to offer bulk earthworks and drilling services to the project.
Now that the deal is done, BCM can go ahead with the ordering and deployment of a Caterpillar mining fleet for full-scale work at the site.
Says KEFI executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, “Today’s Ethio-British Investment Forum marks an important milestone in the development of Ethiopia’s private sector and international investment profile. Mining has already emerged as Ethiopia’s leading export-generating sector, yet the industry is only beginning to unlock its vast potential.”
Apparently, mining is already the largest export-earning sector of the country, but the industry is only starting to get to know its massive potential.
It is well to be noted that the Tulu Kapi Gold Project has a likely ore reserve of 1.05 million ounces and a mineral resource of 1.72 moz of gold.
KEFI is working on the site with the Ethiopian government, with which it entered into a mining contract in April 2015.
Interestingly, Gold was initially discovered and mined in small amounts by an Italian consortium at Tulu Kapi in the 1930s.