March 17 (SeeNews) - Serbian miner Rakita Exploration said it expects to complete the construction of a gold and copper mine in the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone of the Timok copper-gold project in the country's eastern part in 2021.
The construction of facilities for the processing of gold and copper ore in the Upper Zone of Cukaru Peki will start in 2017, Rakita Exploration, owned by Canadian companies Nevsun Resources and Freeport-McMoRan, said in a statement on Thursday.
Access to the deposits, at a depth of between 450 metres and 850 metres, will be ensured through the construction of a tunnel which will be initially used for studies to confirm the the existence of resources, Rakita Exploration said.
The period of mining and processing the ore is projected at between 12 and 15 years, the company added.
Last month, Nevsun Resources said the assay results from the on-going infill drilling of the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone discovered massive and semi-massive sulphide intersections of between 2.01 and 12.9 grammes per tonne (g/t) and copper grade came in at between 0.21% and 0.46% per tonne.
The Timok project consists of the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone and Lower Zone. Nevsun Resources owns 100% of the Cukaru Peki Upper Zone. Nevsun owns a 46% stake in the Cukaru Peki Lower Zone, while Freeport - McMoRan Exploration Corporation owns the remainder.
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.