JEDDAH: The Saudi Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources has granted the first mineral exploration license for the Selib North Project – to a Saudi-Turkish joint venture in which KEFI Minerals ha a 40 percent stake and is the operating partner. In addition, the company has also received approval from the deputy ministry for two other licenses and are awaiting final approval from the Supreme Committee of Concessions in Riyadh, KEFI said in a statement Friday. To date, the company has lodged a total of 21 exploration license in the Kingdom, covering an area of approximately 1,419km2. The license for the Selib North Project covers favorable fault structures and quartz-carbonate veined alteration zones and contains evidence of ancient hard rock and alluvial workings for gold. Managing Director Jeff Rayner said he was "delighted" that this initial license paves the way for detailed exploration to commence in a "highly prospective part of the Arabian shield." "Our first license in Saudi Arabia covers more than 10 kilometers of a major crustal fault zone with gold workings at surface that have not been drilled," he added. The joint venture plans to immediately begin surface exploration programs over the project, with the aim of generating targets for drill testing as soon as possible. Limited rock chip sampling carried out during the field assessment returned results of up to two grams/tonne (g/t) gold and 3.7 g/t silver from the quartz-carbonate vein zones. The project is located in central Saudi Arabia, 65km south-southeast of the Al Amar Gold Mine, which is currently being operated by Ma'aden. In 2007, mineral resources for the Al Amar Gold Mine were estimated at total 2.0 million tons
