Kefi said the Ethiopian central bank had approved the project's banking arrangements, which would complement the approvals received for proposed balance sheet capital ratios and the right to hedge the gold price.

Managing director Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said the government had recently accelerated the pace of regulatory processes for the project.

This comes as no surprise, with the government holding a 23% equity in the project.

The company last week finalised an agreement with an Ethiopian investment syndicate for US$30-35 million in funding for Tulu Kapi.

Kefi said all major policy matters had now been resolved and the remaining approvals were essentially administrative.

These included the registration of actual audited historical investment, registration of the updated project development plan, approval of the finance-lease structure, finalised insurance policies and various ancillary local permits that would only be granted once it took possession of the project land from all resettled households.

Kefi's shares were down slightly by 0.15% Tuesday to 2.16p (US2.8c).