Serbia’s energy ministry said Canada-based Nevsun Resources plans to start drilling at the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone of the Timok copper-gold project by the end of 2017.
In the first phase of the deposit’s development, the drilling works will serve for exploration purposes and for production activities thereafter, energy minister Aleksandar Antic said during a meeting with the COO of Nevsun Resources, Frazer Bourchier, as quoted in a statement by the ministry on Friday.
Nevsun Resources and its Serbian subsidiary Rakita Exploration plan to open the biggest copper and gold mine in Europe, the ministry said.
The Timok project consists of the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone and Lower Zone. Nevsun Resources owns 100% of the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone. The Lower Zone is owned by a joint venture with Freeport – McMoRan Exploration Corporation.
The project is located within the central zone of the Timok Magmatic Complex (TMC), in the Serbian section of the East European Carpathian-Balkan Arc. The TMC has one of the highest concentrations of copper enrichment in the Tethyan Belt.
The indicated resource for the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone is estimated to be 1.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 13.5% of copper and 10.4 g/t of gold, containing 200,000 tonnes of copper and 600,000 ounces of gold.
Nevsun Resources purchased the entire capital of Canada-based Reservoir Minerals, the company developing the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone for $365 million (343 million euro) in April 2016.
