Update On Licence Applications In Saudi Arabia

AIM: KEFI 28th January 2011

                               KEFI Minerals Plc                               

                      ("KEFI Minerals" or the "Company")                       

                UPDATE ON LICENCE APPLICATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA                 

The Company is pleased to provide an update of the status of its Exploration
Licence Applications ("ELAs"), in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

KEFI Minerals and JV Partner Abdul Rahman Saad Al-Rashid and Sons ("ARTAR")
have lodged a total of 21 ELAs in Saudi Arabia that cover an area of
approximately 2,100km2.

The ELAs continue to advance through the approval process despite a number of
minor delays. The delays are predominantly due to a number of national holidays
in Saudi Arabia in the last quarter of 2010 and are also due to a recent
Government request for minor changes to KEFI's Exploration Technical Report.
The Technical Report outlines the proposed five year work programme on each ELA
submission. The Company cannot address these changes until a formal request has
been received from the relevant department but the directors understand that
once the changes are made and approved the Licence will be issued.

KEFI Minerals has continued to prepare for the remaining ELAs to be granted and
expects to be progressing exploration on the ground immediately upon granting
of the first licence.

Jeff Rayner, Managing Director of KEFI Minerals, commented:

"Our primary target in Saudi Arabia is the discovery and development of +1
million ounce gold and copper equivalent deposits in the under-explored
Precambrian Arabian Shield.

"We now have a number of licence applications at an advanced stage of the
approvals process and are optimistic we will be able to commence field work
soon.

"Our exploration team is very keen to commence work in Saudi Arabia and quickly
progress these exciting prospects to being drilled."

For further information contact:

Jeffrey Rayner, KEFI Minerals plc Tel: [phone]

Katy Mitchell, W.H. Ireland Ltd. Tel: [phone]

Philip Davies, Fox-Davies Capital Tel: [phone]

Michael Kinirons, Bishopsgate Communications Tel: [phone]

Background to the ELAs and Minerals Exploration in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is a country with a long history of mining that dates back over
5,000 years and is now set for resurgence under modernised mining laws that
encourage investment.

The ELAs lodged by KEFI Minerals are prospective for volcanic massive sulphide
copper-gold deposits, shear related quartz-gold veins and porphyry copper-gold
deposits. All of the ELAs contain historic workings for gold and/or copper,
some contain visible gold in quartz veins and some have been subjected to
limited drilling by the United States Geological Survey ("USGS") and the Bureau
de Recherches Géologiques et Miniéres ("BRGM"). Encouraging gold mineralisation
has been intercepted in a number of drill holes and trenches in these ELAs.

When the relevant licences are granted, KEFI Minerals will then publicly
release an overview of these historical results and our field reconnaissance
exploration activities will commence on these licences as soon as the statutory
permitting process has been finalised.

Generative studies continue to be carried out, the Arabian Shield is vast and
many prospective areas are open for pegging. Reconnaissance fieldwork is being
progressively undertaken to assess these opportunities and further applications
for Exploration Licences will be made where warranted.

The Saudi Arabian Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources ("DMMR") commenced gold
exploration in the 1970s, following a rise in value of the metal. The USGS and
BRGM were commissioned to document and evaluate the mineral occurrences over a
25 to 30 year period from the 1970s to mid-1990s. Over 5,000 historic mines and
occurrences were documented. Limited work was carried out on each prospect and
up to 1994; only 51 of these prospects were drill tested.

The general tempo of exploration activity in Saudi Arabia has progressively
increased following the new Saudi Mining Investment Code coming into effect in
2005.

Some of the key aspects of the new Mining Investment Code, which are attracting
investment in the exploration and mining industry in Saudi Arabia, are:

  * 20% corporate tax rate;
   
  * no mineral royalties;
   
  * all commodities are available to all groups, including 100% foreign owned
    companies;
   
  * security of tenure through all stages of exploration and development;
   
  * no restrictions on foreign exchange
   
  * no restrictions on repatriation of capital and profits;
   
  * accelerated depreciation; and
   
  * exemption from import duties on capital items imported for mining projects.
   
Exploration Licences (up to 100km2) are issued for five years and renewable for
a further five years, with Mining Licences (up to 50km2) issued for up to 50
years.

Major gold deposits in the Arabian Shield of Saudi Arabia include Saudi Arabian
Mining Company's ("Ma'aden") Mahd adh Dhahab Mine (>6 million ounces) and Al
Amar Mine (>1 million ounces), and Ma'aden's recent greenfields discoveries,
which total more than 8 million ounces.

About KEFI Minerals

KEFI Minerals commenced trading on AIM in December 2006 and was formed with the
aim of creating shareholder value through the discovery and exploitation of
gold and copper deposits.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KEFI Minerals has a minerals exploration joint
venture (Gold & Minerals LLc "G&M") with leading Saudi construction and
investment group Abdul Rahman Saad Al-Rashid & Sons Company Limited ("ARTAR").
KEFI Minerals is the operating partner with a 40% interest and the joint
venture's primary target is the discovery and development of a >1 million ounce
gold deposit in the under-explored Precambrian Shield in Saudi Arabia.

In Turkey, KEFI Minerals currently has the following exploration projects:

 1. At Derinin Tepe in the Western Anatolia Region, low-sulphidation epithermal
    quartz veins have been identified with gold and silver mineralisation.
   
 2. At Artvin, in north-eastern Turkey, extensive hydrothermal alteration and
    gold and base metal mineralisation have been recognised in the project
    area, as well as historical workings indicating potential for economic
    mineralisation.
   
 3. Bakir Tepe, in south-western Turkey, is prospective for VHMS polymetallic
    deposits. High-grade gold and copper crop out on the peripheries of a
    shallowly buried geophysical chargeability anomaly.
   
 4. At Gumushane in eastern Turkey, areas of extensive hydrothermal alteration
    have been recognised in the project area, as well as coincident areas of
    interest identified through interpretation of Aster data.
   
 5. Hasancelebi, in central Turkey, is prospective for high-sulphidation
    epithermal gold mineralisation and Iron-Oxide Copper-Gold ("IOCG")
    mineralisation.
   
 6. Muratdag, in the Western Anatolia Region, is prospective for Carlin-style
    epithermal gold mineralisation.
   
KEFI Minerals' Board of Directors is comprised of Mr. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams
(Chairman), Mr. Jeffrey Rayner (Managing Director), Professor Ian Plimer
(Deputy Chairman) and John Leach (Finance Director).

Further information on KEFI Minerals is available at www.kefi-minerals.com and
the Company's AIM code is "KEFI".

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