EMX Royalty Corporation announced the receipt of $6,675,947 in royalty proceeds from its Timok royalty property with Zijin (Europe) International Mining Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group Ltd (“Zijin”). EMX and Zijin recently agreed to an amended and restated royalty agreement that covers Zijin’s Brestovac exploration permit area (including the active Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine), as well as portions of Zijin’s Jasikovo-Durlan Potok exploration license. EMX now owns a 0.3625% Net Smelter Return (“NSR”) royalty that is uncapped and cannot be repurchased or reduced.
The approximately $6.68 million royalty payment consisted of $1.59 million from July-December, 2021, payments of $3.20 million from the calendar year 2022, and $1.89 million for the period of January-June, 2023.
Various news media reports recently highlighted Zijin’s planned expansion of the Cukaru Peki operation. As reported by Bloomberg News on August 28, 2023, Branko Rakocevic, Assistant General Manager at Serbia Zijin Mining d.o.o. Bor, commented: “These are vast reserves, which require additional infrastructure, additional investment of around $3.5 to $3.8 billion.” This would represent a substantial further investment in the Cukaru Peki project. Zijin is currently producing copper and gold from the Upper Zone deposit at Cukaru Peki, while concurrently developing the Lower Zone porphyry copper and gold deposit.
Source: Street Insider