(Alliance News) - Shares in Kefi Gold & Copper PLC rose nearly 10% on Monday, after the company reported that its Saudi Arabian joint venture had discovered an additional deposit.

Kefi is an exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in the Arabian-Nubian Shield, which holds a "first-mover" advantage in Saudi Arabia. Shares in Kefi were up 1.9% at 0.66 pence per share in London on Monday morning.

This came after Kefi announced the discovery of a third copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit in the Hawiah district of Saudi Arabia.

Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits had previously been discovered when drilling first commenced at Hawiah in 2019, and then again in 2022. The latest discovery, located at Abu Salal, is 50 kilometres south of the company's Hawiah copper-gold project, a joint venture alongside Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashid & Sons Co Ltd.

Assays of sulphide mineralisation from Abu Salal have already returned multiple grade intervals comparable to the Hawiah discovery, which Kefi said ranks in the top three of base metals projects within Saudi Arabia. Kefi said that follow-up exploration activities in 2024 will focus on drill testing deeper portions of the deposit.

Kefi's Executive Chair Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said: "Ongoing exploration near our Hawiah copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit has now quickly yielded two additional discoveries, Al Godeyer and Abu Salal. Discovery of the latter has further strengthened our view that the Hawiah deposit itself is only the first in a cluster of deposits, as often occurs with this style of mineralisation, in a much broader district.

"We are...highly encouraged to have made the Abu Salal discovery, which once fully appraised will no doubt significantly increase our resources in the Hawiah district still further," he added.

By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter

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