(Sharecast News) - Kefi Gold and Copper updated the market on its recent activities in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, including details on its minority-owned Gold & Minerals (GMCO), as well as various exploration sites at Jibal Qutman, Hawiah, Al Godeyer, and Abu Salal.

The AIM-traded firm said that at the Jibal Qutman site, it had completed a 13,000-metre drill programme aimed at providing an updated resource estimate.

Additional exploration techniques such as trenching and diamond drilling were currently in progress to identify new resources.

The company said it had also completed metallurgical test work on oxide ore samples, and had initiated phase one test work on fresh ore.

It said the submission of the environmental and social impact assessment scoping study was another important milestone for this project.

Kefi's efforts at the Hawiah site meanwhile continued with positive results from an ongoing 60,000-metre infill and expansion drilling campaign.

The drilling program was engineered to upgrade the resource classification, paving the way for further definition of ore reserves, which would be a part of the planned definitive feasibility study in 2024.

One of the notable findings at the site was a 7.5-metre wide intercept, representing a 230-metre downdip extension from the previously-deepest known hole, thus expanding the known resource depth.

In Al Godeyer, phase one of the infill drilling had been designed to expand and upgrade the initial 2023 resource estimates.

That, the firm said, would declare the ore reserve as a part of the Hawiah definitive feasibility study, but as a satellite deposit.

Meanwhile, at Abu Salal, trenching activities had been initiated to expose volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) horizons across a discontinuous two-kilometre strike length.

Assays for the site were pending.

At 1332 BST, shares in Kefi Gold and Copper were up 5.17% at 0.59p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.