An American and a Canadian company recently announced that, after more than 100 years, they had found the world’s richest copper deposit – more 10% of metal content in the ore – in eastern Serbia. The igneous rocks of eastern and southern Serbia preserve large quantities of copper, but also gold, lead and zinc. The gold reserves in the Timočka Krajina region alone, in eastern Serbia, have been estimated at almost 1,000 tons and more than 160 tons of this precious metal have been obtained so far in the Bor Mining and Smelting Basin.
The Bigar gold deposit on Mt Crni vrh, near the town of Bor can produce 48 tons of this precious metal. Explorations are being conducted by a Canadian mining company, Avala Resources, and its experts believe that deposits on this mountain are among the richest in Europe. Explorations have been completed on another prospect on Mt Crni vrh, Korkan, where the preliminary results are even better, whereas the results of explorations on the third prospect, Krak Pešter, have not been announced yet. According to geologists, the three locations boast gold reserves of at least four million ounces. If the research proves that exploitation is economically justifiable, Avala Resources will invest at least 500 million dollars in the deposits on Mt Crni Vrh. Hundreds of workers will be employed in that case and the investment could bring profit within three years at most. Avala Resourced has been prospecting for gold in Serbia for seven years. The preliminary results have shown that the gold belt extends along 20km and expands along 8km in the vicinity of Žagubica. The richest deposit is Čoka Marin, which contains some 240,000 tons of ore rich in copper, gold and silver. The reactivation of a former gold mine, Blagojev kamen, between Majdanpek and Kučevo, is being considered as that mine is believed to contain some 35 tons of gold.The igneous rock complex of the Timok region is being explored by other world mining companies as well. US company Freeport McMoran and Canadian company Reservoir Minerals are about to explore two prospects rich in copper near Zaječar, eastern Serbia. In the vicinity of the village of Nikoličevo, two deposits with a high percentage of this metal have been found. Experts claim that deposits of ore with just 1% of copper content, which are ten times poorer than these, are regarded as very profitable. By the way, in Bor and Majdanpek, the exploited orres contain 0.4% of copper Besides eastern Serbia, it is southern Serbia as well that abounds in rich deposits of copper, gold, lead and zinof c. In the region of the municipality Medveđa, there are seven mining fields and one lead and zinc mine. Canadian company Dunav Minerals, which is engaged in explorations in Tulare has estimated copper resrves there at 800,000 tons and gold reserves at 78 tons. In order to turn this resource into a mine it is necessary to conduct several studies, in the fields of metallurgy, economy, society and ecology.It is estimated that in the past ten years, foreign companies have invested almost 100 million euros in the explorations of deposits of gold and other precious metals in Serbia.
Source Balkans
