Dundee Precious Metals which is operating the Bulgaria Chelopech silver-gold mine found new/old reserves which will be processed in coming years. Chelopech mine is one of the biggest gold exploration location in Europe.
Dundee Precious Metals reported on additional four million tonne increase in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource categories at its Chelopech mine in Bulgaria.
Resource drilling activity in 2015 has targeted prior mining areas, where sub-level caving was previously conducted, to confirm the historical in-situ resources which were restricted from mining by Bulgarian authorities due to technical difficulties. DPM has always considered that these volumes may be mineable. Over the last two years, Chelopech has successfully demonstrated the safe and efficient recovery of 151,000 tonnes of ore from the block 150 orebody crown pillar. It is intended to use the same mining approach as successfully demonstrated with the 150 crown pillar to be able to extract these materials in proximity to historical cave zones. This has resulted in a revision to the Mineral Resource inventory at Chelopech mine, specifically the conversion of some Inferred Mineral Resource volumes to Indicated Mineral Resources which are now available for consideration for conversion to Mineral Reserves in due course. This is an increase of 15%, corresponding to a 4.2Mt increase in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource category of the Mineral Resource Inventory. With the additional resources added and the further exploration drilling planned for 2016, a possible expansion to current production will be evaluated and considered over the course of the coming year.
Dundee’s principal operating assets include the Chelopech operation, which produces a copper concentrate containing gold and silver, located east of Sofia, Bulgaria; the Kapan operation, which produces a copper concentrate and a zinc concentrate, both containing gold and silver, located in southern Armenia; and the Tsumeb smelter, a concentrate processing facility located in Namibia. DPM also holds interests in a number of developing gold properties located in Bulgaria, Serbia, and northern Canada, including the Krumovgrad project and interests held through its 50.1% owned subsidiary, Avala Resources Ltd., and its 12.0% interest in Sabina Gold & Silver Corp.
