November 5 (SeeNews) - Serbia's energy ministry has extended by three years the Stara Planina copper and gold exploration license of Australian mining group Raiden Resources, the company has said.
Raiden Resources’ joint venture partner and holder of the Stara Planina exploration licence, Geoconsulting Studio d.o.o., received on November 1 written confirmation from the Serbian energy ministry that the exploration licence had been extended for a further 3 years, the Australian company said in a statement on Friday.
"The company has regularly liaised with the Serbian Ministry of Mines and Energy to ensure the Stara Planina licence extension is granted. The granting of the licence extension will allow the company to re-commence field activities. The company is currently planning follow up activities on the licence, which we will look to commence within the following days," the Managing Director of Raiden, Dusko Ljubojevic, said.
Over the past weeks, Raiden Resources has continued to compile the available geological data and evaluate its land access agreements with various surface rights owners. The information has since been compiled into a revised interpretation and will serve to guide future field activities at Stara Planina, Raiden Resources said.
Raiden Resources is focused on the emerging prolific Tethyan metallogenic belt in Serbia. The company signed in March an Earn-In and Joint Venture Agreement with Rio Tinto in respect to three of its six projects, whereby Rio Tinto can earn a 75% project-level position in the properties via a staged exploration commitment totalling $31.5 million (27.7 million euro) in three stages at Rio Tinto’s election.
($ = 0.878564 euro)