Armenia restarts controversial gold mine

Armenia has announced the resumption of mining at the gold deposit in Amulsar mountain, near the southern resort town of Jermuk.

For years the project was widely opposed by activists who feared the impact on the local environment – and by extension on the tourism sector and production of the region’s famous mineral water.

Those fears remain, and are now compounded by the presence of Azerbaijani troops just a few kilometers away.

The Ministry of Economy, the Eurasian Development Bank and Lydian Armenia – which owns the license to exploit the Amulsar field and is a subsidiary of the U.S.-British Lydian International – signed a memorandum on February 22 for $250 million to complete construction work at the mine and purchase the necessary equipment.

As a result of the deal, Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said, the Armenian government will receive 12.5 percent of the company’s shares. “The government will not pay anything in return, but will instead guarantee the deal against certain risks,” the economy minister said, without elaborating on the risks involved.

Known for its health resorts, the town of Jermuk is currently part of “Armenia’s most vulnerable territory,” according to a January assessment by the International Crisis Group. Azerbaijani troops took up positions some seven kilometers away in the mountains after advancing deep into Armenian territory in a major offensive in September 2022.

But the Armenian government assures that the proximity of Azerbaijani troops won’t affect the mine’s operation. “We can give our partners and investors the confidence that their investments are not in danger. Naturally, we have invested in some mechanisms of ensuring against threats,” the economy minister said without elaborating.

Amulsar is the second-largest gold deposit in Armenia. Its reserves are estimated at 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold.

Ecologists and local residents have long worried that the operation of the mine could pollute the groundwater of Jermuk and its famous springs, and perhaps even Lake Sevan, further to the north.

The deal with Lydian is one of the largest and most controversial foreign investment projects in the history of independent Armenia. Lydian says that it has already invested $300 million in the project and claims that the mine would contribute $488 million to the state budget through taxes and royalties over its 11-year operation.

Lydian Armenia’s development of the Amulsar mine was suspended in 2018 following large protests against potential environmental damage. Since then its prospects have fallen and risen as the government appeared unable to reconcile the need for investment and jobs in the country with the environmental threat and resulting popular opposition.

Amendments to Armenia’s mining code in June 2022 removed the final legal hurdle to restarting the mine. Among other things, they allow companies to carry out mining with environmental impact assessments more than a year old.

In 2019, the Armenian government commissioned an independent study from the Lebanese company ELARD (Earth Link & Advanced Resources Development) to assess the potential environmental risks of the project.

That study provided initial data which ELARD said was insufficient for a comprehensive environmental risk assessment. But Armenia’s Investigative Committee took the same data and used it as grounds for dismissing a criminal case against Lydian Armenia filed the year before.

The news of the reopening of the mine took many by surprise. The signing of the memorandum was announced just a few hours beforehand, so would-be protesters had no time to organize.

Neighboring communities, under a new agreement involving the government, will receive $7 million annually from Lydian Armenia in financial assistance. Significant sums will also reach the state treasury. The mining industry is one of the leading sectors of the Armenian economy. It provided 10 percent of all budget revenues in 2022, or about $500 million.

“The budget revenues from the development of the Amulsar field are expected to be 30-40 billion drams (over $100 million) a year,” Kerobyan, the economy minister, said, expressing confidence that the government will be able to control the associated environmental risks, Eurasia writes.

Turkey, Production from its Kiziltepe in 2023 should be around 18,000oz of gold

Ariana Resources PLC has said production from its Kiziltepe gold mining interests in Turkey should be around 18,000 ounces of gold in 2023, with a reduction from 2022 due to lower grade ore and scheduled reduced mill throughput.

Kerim Sener, Ariana managing director, said output at this level would still be more than twice the projected level when it drew up its original feasibility plan.

Kiziltepe, 23.5% owned by Ariana through its shareholding in Zenit Madencilik, produced a record 28,421 ounces in 2022.

Sener noted that Kiziltepe has now produced 50% more gold over its life than projected in the Feasibility Study and within three-quarters of the time expected.

“Furthermore, recent exploration successes have highlighted the potential to make further discoveries in the area, such as beneath Kiziltepe Hill at Kepez Main, albeit they represent deeper targets,” he added in a statement.

“While Kiziltepe represents our oldest project, we are encouraged that even 18 years since we purchased it from Newmont, it still yields significant exploration upside.

“We have successfully demonstrated the progression of a project from the greenfields stage with just under 4,000m of drilling when purchased in 2005, to one with over 55,000m of drilling, delineating a Global Resource of 380,000 ounces of gold and over 6 million ounces of silver, of which perhaps half may be mined economically at this time,” he concluded, Pro Active Investors reports.

Lykos Balkan Metals has found significant quantities of gold at its Sinjakovo project in northwestern Bosnia

“Laboratory findings of the last year’s geological explorations in the area of the Jezero municipality have confirmed the presence of significant quantities of gold,” Bojana Jovanovic told Reuters.

“The concentration of gold at some locations was as much as 27.5 grams/tonne in a continuous line of 60 metre, which is an extraordinary result,” Jovanovic added.

The samples were analyzed in an accredited laboratory and results supported continued geological research, Jovanovic said, adding the company planned to allocate a major part of its 60 million Bosnian marka ($33.7 million) investment in Bosnia this year in further exploration.

She cautioned that such research normally takes 5-8 years.

Lykos Balkan Metals has been given a permit for geological exploration at the site by the industry ministry of the Serb Republic, one of Bosnia’s two autonomous regions.

The assembly and citizens of the Jezero municipality have opposed the research, fearing environmental damage.

But Jovanovic said the company had all necessary confirmations that its exploration had been conducted according to regulations, Mining reports.

Azerbaijan, AzerGold begins mining at Tulallar gold deposit

Azerbaijan’s AzerGold CJSC has began mining on the Tulallar gold deposit, positioned on the executive territory of the Goygol district, Trend reviews.

The first mountaintop elimination course of on the gold deposit was held on one of the vital important days for the firm – February 11, 2023, on the eighth anniversary of the basis of the joint-stock firm by the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

The Tulallar gold deposit was found through the Soviet interval however has not been extensively explored. Since 2017, the corporate’s geologists have performed intensive analysis, and in 2022, Micon International Co. Limited’s worldwide authoritative marketing consultant initially permitted reserves of 298,000 ounces of gold in the earth’s bowels and 85,000 ounces as recoverable quantity. At the second, the deposit is on the state stability sheet.

In normal, the commissioning of the deposit could have a optimistic affect on the rise in employment by creating new jobs within the area. In addition, this can result in the event of Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector and additional enchancment of the welfare of the inhabitants of Dashkasan and Goygol districts.

The Tulallar deposit is the fourth gold deposit placed on fee by the AzerGold CJSC. The deposit is geared toward increasing the quantity of the extractive business, turning the wealthy mineral useful resource potential of the republic into sustainable improvement, and contributing to the socio-economic improvement of the nation.

Considering that the talked about deposit is the primary a part of the Chovdar Integrated Regional Processing Site, the work carried out as a complete will make a further contribution to making certain the sustainability of the socio-economic progress of the Ganja-Dashkasan financial area by rising the life cycle of the regional processing website, Business Lend reports.

Serbia, Discovered gold worth several billion dollars

Serbia has serious mineral deposits, and even without counting the new gold deposit near Zagubica, they are estimated at nearly 200 billion dollars.

“All exploration companies, after confirming the reserves, report this data to the institute, and it has a real idea of what is available in this field,” says the director of the Geological Institute of Serbia, Dragoman Rabrenovic.

He said that they are waiting for the results of the latest surveys in the area of the town of Zhagubitsa, but according to the preliminary results, there are two or three objects there. “At a rough estimate, we’re talking about $3 to $4 billion just for the gold,” says Rabrenovic. He recalled that at that time the mining fee was 5%.

“In a rough calculation, when it comes to gold mining in Bor, the annual fee should be 200 million dollars, 40% of it goes to the local government, 60% to the state,” explained the expert, quoted by Serbian media.

According to the Serbian authorities, the concentration of pure gold in the vein is 93%, and its reserves are significant. Zagubica is located in Eastern Serbia, about 95 km from the border with Bulgaria at Vraska cuka.

The new gold deposits were discovered within the Timok project by the Canadian-based company Dundee Precious Metals, which is developing gold deposits in Bulgaria.

Regarding the environmental implications of gold mining, Rabrenovic said that geological exploration is generally safe, while mining and exploitation depends on the type of mineral resource, but added that “over 90% of this process is safe”.

The Canadian gold mining company “Dundee Precious Metals” announced that it improved its production results in one of its mines in Bulgaria at the beginning of 2023. By a little more than 1%, the commercial enterprise increased production in Celopec.

2022 was “challenging”, but the company says that they do not consider a significant effect of the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine.

Despite the more modest production of gold in the other mine – “Ada Tepe”, the forecasts for 2023 are “encouraging”. According to chief executive David Rae, last year was strong thanks to “solid gold production”.

The strongest 2022 year for Ada Tepe was the last quarter of last year with nearly 28,100 ounces of gold produced, or about 1/3 of annual gold production. The company expects conditions this year to be favorable and gold production levels to be higher at this mine as well.

According to calculations, this year’s output from the mine in Krumovgrad is 29% less on an annual basis. In total, it has produced 94,000 ounces of gold for 2022 – at the high end of annual production guidance.

In October-December 2022, the Chelopech mine produced nearly 45,300 ounces of gold and 7.4 million pounds of copper. And for all of 2022, the amount is about 179,100 gold and 30.8 million pounds of copper, European Times writes.

Serbia, Larger deposits of gold were discovered

A few years ago, two tons of gold came out of the smelter in this small town per season, but with the discovery of the Čukari Peku deposit and the opening of a new mine, things have changed significantly. Recently, another rich deposit was discovered near Žagubica, so it is not impossible for Serbia to surpass Bulgaria, with 5.6 tons of annual production of the European leader in the production of precious metal.

Serbia has no greater individual wealth than the Bor complex. The two most important resources available to the country in the hilly Balkans are of a general type, people and agricultural land. Admittedly, perhaps some of the lithium deposits will be more expensive in the future, but it remains to be seen what will become of the environmentally controversial exploitation and processing of this light metal. For now, the Bor copper deposit, in which gold, silver, selenium and platinum metals are also exploited as by-products, is our biggest single value.

It is therefore understandable that the public is interested in all the news in the Bor Basin, and of course, in the discovery of a new site at the location of Čoka Potaj, close to the nearby Žagubica. Previous research has confirmed that there are more than 80 tons of gold in this deposit, and the extraction efficiency would be as high as 93 percent. Like other deposits of gold-bearing reserves in Serbia, this is also part of a potential copper mine, the most abundant mineral raw material in the area.

In 80 locations

It is less known that Serbia is actually made of gold deposits. So far, more than 80 locations with reserves of “yellow metal” have been found, by far the most in the vicinity of Bor. In all cases, the metal, together with silver, platinum, palladium, is the content of the copper deposit. For now, there are no mines in Serbia whose primary raw material is gold, as there are in South Africa, Nevada, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Peru or Russia. The geology in our region is different, there are actually no “pure” gold mines even in Europe.

Most of the deposits are in eastern Serbia, but there are quite a few in the south and in the western part of the republic. However, it is rarely profitable to exploit. For now, these are only sites in eastern Serbia, primarily in the belt from Majdanpek to Bor, where exploitation began in 1903. Currently, Ziđin Cooper, the Serbian subsidiary of the Chinese Ziđin, has continued to extract gold from four inherited mines by purchasing the former RTB Bor. Found balance reserves are 153 tons of gold, which guarantees a long exploitation. Currently, along with around 73,000 tons of copper, two are being extracted, and the goal is to reach three tons of the yellow metal.

European leader

On the basis of long-term geological research by Yugoslav scientists, ten years ago a Canadian company found, and later sold the rights to Ziđin, the Čukari Peku deposit, which has extremely high potential. Only in the upper layer, for which the Chinese producer, through another local subsidiary, Zijin Mining, acquired exploitation rights, there are 1.25 million tons of copper and 81 tons of gold.

A hidden gem

Apart from eastern Serbia, gold is still extracted only in the Lesce mine in the southeast, primarily a deposit of lead and copper. It is estimated that there are about 12 tons of gold in western Serbia, the exploitation of which could be profitable in the event that the price of gold is in an even stronger upward trend for a long time.

However, the greatest potential is in the lower layer of the Čukari Peku site, where the estimated reserves are 345 kilograms of gold. It is interesting that there are 27 tons of “yellow metal” in the deposits of rivers and streams in this region, primarily in Pec. Former geological fortifications of around 300 tons of balance reserves have now increased to at least 600 tons. Real wealth for a small and relatively poor community.

The income is not only in five percent of the mineral rent. There is also the development of mines and processing capacities, the introduction and familiarization of the most modern technologies, the production of decorative objects, the scope of technologies in which copper is the main input, such as the production of cables and the production of ammunition. It is estimated that five times more workers are employed in the accompanying activities than in the mine itself. Along with such an economic complex goes the development of the transport network, both road, even more railway and port. After all, RTB Bor developed and is the biggest user of the port in Kladovo or the Zaječar-Niš railway.

An air of hope

Each mine, especially if, as in the case of Bor, it also develops certain stages of processing, is a very strong company. Thus, in 2020, Ziđin Cooper earned 698 million dollars, of which 441.3 million came from the sale of 70,600 tons of copper.

Ten million was earned by exporting 15.4 tons of silver, while seven million were cashed out by the Swiss buying 11 kilograms of platinum and 100 kilograms of palladium. By selling 2,054 kilograms of gold to the National Bank of Serbia, Ziđin Kuper earned close to 116 million dollars.

When it is known and has a wider approach to work, the mine is a colossal economic resource, a development engine of the local community. That is why the news of a new finder of copper and gold is the most pleasant thing that has happened to the inhabitants of Serbia in recent times, especially to those from the eastern regions, for whom the Bor company is by far the biggest support.

The plan is to extract three tons of gold and 50,000 tons of copper annually, which would satisfy the capacity of the Bor smelter.

Serbia, Where are all the gold deposits

A few days ago, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, told the citizens that one of the 80 largest gold deposits on the territory of our country was found in one of the poorest parts of Serbia.

This could be a deposit in Southeast Serbia, near the border with Bulgaria and Macedonia, where the Canadian research firm Medgold Resources found certain indicators that there is gold, about 19 tons.

In the middle of this year, Medgold bought 51 percent of the rights to the Tlamino Project from Fortuna Silver Mines for about three million dollars.

According to data from geological surveys, there are about 200 locations in Serbia with gold reserves that reach about 600 tons of the precious metal.

However, for now, gold is being mined at two locations. The largest deposit of gold is located in the vicinity of Bor and is mined by the Chinese Zijin from mine deposits in Majdanpek, Veliki Krivelje, Cerovo, Borska Reka and the largest of all, the Čukaru Peki mine, which was opened last year.

These are primarily copper mines, and copper ore is often accompanied by gold veins.

Despite this, research done by the American company Freeport McMoran together with the Canadian company Reservoir Minerals showed that there are about 98 tons of gold ore in the Chukaru Peki gold vein, although later reports speak of 81 tons of gold.

The Canadian company was later bought by the Chinese, which took over the exploitation rights of this deposit.

The only real gold mine was the Blagoje stone near Majdanpek, which has not been in operation for more than 20 years.

Recently, the story of the Potaj Čuka – Tisnica site near Žagubica was also started, where a deposit weighing about 19 tons of gold ore was found.

The company Avala Resorsiz, which is owned by the Canadian company Dundee Press Metals, has the rights here.

Apart from the mines, for hundreds of years adventurers have also been washing gold in the drifts of the Pek River and its tributaries, the Todoro River, Chubera, Brodica, Gložana, Vlasina, Nera and Rasina.

Eastern Serbia is located on the Timok magmatic complex, which is part of one of the largest metal-bearing belts in the world – TMB (Tethyan Metallogenic Belt), which stretches from Europe through Anatolia to Iran and contains rich deposits of copper ore and gold.

Apart from the surroundings of Bor and Majdanpek, gold is also currently extracted in the Lece mine near Medveđa, but it is primarily a lead and zinc mine.

Slightly smaller gold reserves are found in Western Serbia, about 27 tons in total.

At the beginning of the year, gold exploration rights were also granted in southwestern Serbia on the slopes of Mount Rogozna, on the slopes of Golija, Danas writes.

Serbia, Dundee Precious Metals assessed that a lot still needs to be done before it can be determined whether the opening of the mine at the “Čoka Rakita” site is possible

The Canadian mining company, which discovered the gold deposit near Žagubica, Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) assessed that a lot still needs to be done before it can be determined whether the opening of the mine at the “Čoka Rakita” site is possible and in what time frame, the Insider reported.

It is added that the results obtained during the research so far are encouraging.

DPM has been in Serbia since 2004, and apart from Žagubica, it also explores gold and related metals in the municipalities of Kuršumlija, Medvedja, Gornji Milanovac, Brus, Petrovac na Mlavi, Kučevo and Bor.

The company stated that they currently have approvals to work on 10 exploration areas, but also that during this year they will focus their exploration activities in Serbia on the “Čoka Rakita” site, which gave excellent preliminary results. However, they add that despite the encouraging results of preliminary research near Žagubica, it is still too early to conclude whether the opening of the mine is possible.

– Opening a mine is a complex and long-term process that lasts for years, during which the company needs to take a series of steps before confirming the final findings and deciding whether there will be a mine or not. During the entire process, the DPM takes care to timely inform all interested parties and the public in Serbia and the world about the findings and all important steps of the process, operating in accordance with Serbian and Canadian laws and best international practice – stated the DPM.

It is emphasized that the opening of the mine would have multiple benefits for Serbia and the local community because, they claim, the project would contribute to the development of the Žagubica region.

– In Serbia, as is the case in many other countries in the world, mineral wealth belongs to the state, and private companies are allowed to obtain mining permits and to exploit the ore. The state, on the other hand, has economic benefits through mineral rent, public revenues, increased economic activity and jobs – the company stated.

Serbia changed the law more than two decades ago and allowed private companies to carry out geological research, and the DPM stated that it operates fully in accordance with the licenses and permits of the Government of Serbia.

– Also, as a Canadian company, DPM has a legal obligation to respect Canadian standards at the international level, which are among the highest in the world in all aspects, including environmental protection – said DPM.

Where are all the gold deposits in Serbia?

In the middle of this year, Medgold bought 51 percent of the rights to the Tlamino Project from Fortuna Silver Mines for about three million dollars.

According to data from geological surveys, there are about 200 locations in Serbia with gold reserves that reach about 600 tons of the precious metal.

However, for now, gold is being mined at two locations. The largest deposit of gold is located in the vicinity of Bor and is mined by the Chinese Zijin from mine deposits in Majdanpek, Veliki Krivelje, Cerovo, Borska Reka and the largest of all, the Čukaru Peki mine, which was opened last year.