Serbian Gold Resources Grow with New Discoveries
DPM and Strickland ramping up drilling
Serbia’s standing as an exploration hot spot has continued to grow with updates from two of the companies operating there.
Zijin Mining Group (SH: 601899) is the main player in Serbia, operating the Čukaru Peki and Bor copper-gold mines.
The two mines produced a combined 292,900 tonnes of copper and 8t of gold last year and are guided to produce 290,000t of copper and 7t of gold this year.
Recent updates from DPM Metals (TSX/ASX: DPM) and Strickland Metals (ASX: STK) has continued to build the country’s resource inventory.
DPM last week reported an initial resource for the Dumitru Potok, Rakita North and Frasen prospects in eastern Serbia, all located within 1-2km of planned Čoka Rakita infrastructure.
The combined inferred resource for the prospects is 84.4 million tonnes grading 0.97 grams per tonne gold and 1.02% copper for 2.6 million ounces of gold and 1.9 billion pounds of copper.
Dumitru Potok represents the majority of the resource, hosting 64.1Mt at 1.07g/t gold and 1.09% copper for 2.2Moz of gold and 1.5Blb of copper.
The resources remain open in multiple directions.
Rakita camp
DPM president and CEO David Rae said the discoveries, made 14 months ago, confirmed the Rakita camp’s potential as a district-scale copper-gold system.
Late last month, DPM reported a probable reserve of 1.52Moz at 6.44g/t for the main Čoka Rakita deposit, discovered in 2023, alongside the project’s feasibility study.
Initial capital costs were forecast at US$448 million for an 850,000t per annum operation.
The operation is expected to produce 148,000ozpa of gold, including 189,000ozpa in the first five years, at all-in sustaining costs of US$644 an ounce.
Based on a conservative US$1900/oz gold price, the project has a post-tax net present value (8% discount rate) of US$782 million and internal rate of return of 36%.
Increasing the gold price assumption to US$3500/oz increases the NPV to US$2.2 billion and the IRR to 68%.
DPM vice president, projects Mirco Nolte told the company’s investor day on Friday that a final investment decision was targeted in early 2027.
“We’ve developed a project from discovery through to feasibility in under three years and we envisage that the target is to be in production and producing first concentrate in the first half of 2029,” he said.
Strickland grows Rogozna
In western Serbia, Strickland is advancing its Rogozna project.
On Tuesday, the company released an initial resource for the Gradina deposit, the fourth deposit at Rogozna.
Gradina has an inferred resource of 12Mt at 3g/t gold for 1.2Moz of gold with a discovery cost of US$10/oz.
The core of the deposit averages 3100oz of gold per vertical metre.
The resource remains open to the north, the south, in the “gap zone” and also at depth.
Drilling to the south has intersected over 700m of continuous mineralisation including 80m at 2.3g/t gold, reported last month.
The addition of Gradina has boosted the overall Rogozna resource by 16% to 8.6Moz of gold equivalent across four deposits.
Strickland is planning to complete an internal scoping study on the project by the June quarter of next year.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Paul Howard forecasts a US$600 million, 3.5Mtpa operation to produce 163,000ozpa of gold, or 190,000ozpa of gold equivalent, over 10 year at AISC of US$1415/oz, sourcing ore from the Gradina and Shanac deposits.
Drilling to accelerate
DPM holds three major licenses in western Serbia, Čoka Rakita, Potaj Čuka and Pešter Jug.
Drilling is currently paused at Čoka Rakita, pending the renewal of permits, but the company has eight rigs drilling at the neighbouring Potaj Čuka license.
The company is planning to follow up on Valja Saka, to the north of Dumitru Potok, after drilling earlier this year intersected shallow sandstone and marble-hosted gold-silver-base metal skarn mineralisation.
“We believe that it represents the same geological environment,” DPM director of exploration Stefan Metodiev said last week.
“I would say that between the Korkan and Valja Saka drill holes, we know that there is another intrusion. We see it on the surface, and we have to drill at the right spot at the right depth to see where it contacts with the marbles.
“If we find that, I have a strong belief that we’ll find another mineralisation body there.”
The company is planning to restart drilling at Čoka Rakita in the June quarter and expects to ramp up to 15 or 16 drill rigs.
Meanwhile, Strickland has five rigs at Rogozna, though drilling is winding down for Christmas.
The company is awaiting final assays for the latest drilling at the 5.3Moz Shanac deposit and is planning to update the resource in the March 2026 quarter.
Drilling is expected to resume in February and is expected to ramp up to eight diamond rigs by mid-year.