Gold has literally always played an extremely important role both for the economy itself and for state systems. In Serbia, exploitation of this ore has been carried out in several locations, mostly in the vicinity of Bor, but this could soon change because new locations rich in gold have been found.
As President Vučić pointed out in the local media, in the municipality, whose name is kept secret, “much more gold than we have in the Čukaru Peki mine” was found.
Since in Čukar Peka, there are 1.7 grams of gold per ton, and there are 46.1 million tons of alloy, it turns out that there are about 78,370 kilograms of gold there, i.e. 78.3 tons. According to current prices on the world market, a kilogram of gold is sold at a price of around 56,280. So, according to announcements, the newly discovered site contains more than the mentioned 78.3 tons of gold, i.e. a “treasure” worth at least 4.41 billion euros was discovered.
Let us remind you that in mid-December, President Vučić announced that deposits of gold and calcium carbonate had been discovered in Serbia, i.e. calcite. During his visit during the weekend, he pointed out that one of the mentioned sites is located in one of the poorest parts of the country.
As he pointed out during the weekend, “one deposit of gold and calcium carbonate in Serbia was found in Gadžin Han, and another in the southeast of the country, and I am waiting for permission to say where exactly the latter is.”
Where are we digging for gold now?
As the deputy director of the Geological Survey of Serbia, Predrag Mijatović, once pointed out for “Blic Biznis”, the “Čukaru Peki” copper and gold deposit is estimated to contain 46.1 million tons of metal, with a copper content of 2.7 percent and gold of 1.7 grams per ton.
That gold is first offered to the NBS for redemption, and then to the market.
In addition to this mine near Bor, other mines are also active in Serbia, in which many different metals are exploited. Large amounts of silver appear in most of them, and only in some gold.
- The Veliki Majdan mine near Ljubovija contains lead and zinc with a lot of silver content in the ore and their final product is two concentrates of lead and zinc, which are sold abroad.
- Mine and flotation Mine near Gornji Milanovac, where copper, zinc, lead and silver ore are mined and processed.
- The Grot mine on Besna Kobila mountain, which has two products, which are lead and zinc concentrates with a lot of silver. According to some data, these concentrates also contain certain amounts of gold.
- The Lece mine in Medveđa is a lead and zinc mine, but it is characteristic that it has high concentrations of gold and silver in its definitive products.
In addition to them, two mines are also active in the north of Kosovo, which work as part of Trepče, Crnać and Koperić.
There are currently more than 200 locations where mineral resources are being explored. We are the richest in copper, lead, zinc and coal. According to the opinion of the profession, the existing deposits have the potential for at least another 15-20 years of exploitation.
Great interest in the sites
The company “Western Tetjan Resources” (WTR), which is 75 percent owned by the British company “Ariana Resources”, last year received another license for prospecting for gold in Kosovo and Metohija in the area of the municipality of Podujevo.
This means adding 58 square kilometers of space in the village of Hrtica to the existing area owned by this company. WTP already has several licenses for prospecting for gold in these areas.
Record gold reserves in the NBS
According to the latest available data in the NBS treasury, the amount of gold reserves increased in 2022. All in all, during the last year we acquired 1.1 tons of gold from domestic production, and thus the total reserves rose to 38.5 tons, with a total value of 2.1 billion euros, Blic writes.
