KEFI Gold and Copper (KEFI), which is developing the Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia, has updated the market on the latest progress with the project finance. 

The total funding requirement for Tulu Kapi was set at US$340 million in October of this year, and of that a debt offering had been formally accepted for US$240 million. 

The remaining requirement of US$100 million is coming in the form of equity-risk capital, of which US$40 million was already been arranged in October, and US$60 million of which was yet to be filled.

Since October 2025, the detailed debt documentation for US$240 million has been assembled for execution. 

Meanwhile, in respect of the US$60 million which hadn’t yet been finalised, KEFI has now signed terms sheets for US$40 million in the form of Equity-Ranking gold streams which give it the right to draw up to an aggregate of US$20 million, together with the conditional right to an additional US$20 million subject to due diligence.

The company is also processing proposals of US$43 million for its innovative Ethiopian Birr-denominated preference shares, which are redeemable and non-convertible). These preference shares are to be issued to specific qualified local investors, and US$23 million worth of them have progressed into the detailed documentation stage.

Separately, a US$50 million in-country-level investment by a specialist African fund remains in advanced discussions, together with consideration of other proposals to optimise the equity-risk component of the project financing should they be preferred.

KEFI intends to finalise the entire project finance package this month as previously stated, enabling full launch of the project.

 

View from Vox

 

It’s a complicated matter pulling all the aspects of a project financing package together, but KEFI appears to be keeping all the balls in the air as completion draws closer. It’s helpful, of course, that the gold price has been so strong, and that Tulu Kapi will accordingly generate a significant amount of cash. Also helpful that there aren’t too many new gold projects around. But Ethiopia itself is fairly new to mining, so the process was never going to be without complications. KEFI has options though, and the breaking of ground is now imminent.