KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM: KEFI) shares surged 26% in early trading after the company announced the recommencement of development at its Tulu Kapi Gold Project in Ethiopia.
Development had been suspended on 7 September 2026 following the Genji Incident three days earlier, in which company personnel suffered injuries and a fatality.
KEFI said the incident was resolved on 10 September following close cooperation with the local community.
Since then, senior management has held consultations with local communities, Ethiopian and Oromia government representatives, security agencies and other stakeholders, focusing particularly on community engagement, localisation and security arrangements.
Following those discussions, KEFI is restarting the project through a phased and measured development programme.
The first activities include recommencement of construction work for electricity connections and new access roads.
This will be followed by replacement housing and land arrangements for people being resettled from within the mining licence area.
Once those steps are completed, initial construction within the project area is expected to include security infrastructure, bulk earthworks for the processing plant and associated facilities, and permanent workforce accommodation.
KEFI said it is also increasing its emphasis on using local contractors and businesses with experience in the Tulu Kapi region, alongside its international mining specialists.
The company added that its lenders have continued to support the project during discussions over the revised development sequence and associated timing of funding drawdowns.
That support is significant, although the announcement does not indicate that the entire remaining development programme has now been completed or that all funding has already been drawn.
Tulu Kapi is intended to become Ethiopia’s first large-scale modern gold mine in decades.
KEFI said the project could directly employ around 1,000 people from the local community once operating, alongside new infrastructure including roads and electricity connections.
The company has already invested more than US$150 million in the project and also intends to pursue additional exploration aimed at extending the mine’s potential operating life.
For investors, the immediate significance is that physical development activity has restarted after a five-week interruption, removing a major near-term uncertainty around the project.
The next tests will be the orderly completion of infrastructure works, community resettlement, mobilisation onto the mining licence area and subsequent progression into full construction, while maintaining the revised security and community arrangements.
The 26% early share-price rise suggests investors are treating the lifting of the suspension as a material step towards getting Tulu Kapi back onto its development pathway.
