Trial mining has begun at the upper zone of the Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine, in Serbia, owner Zijin Mining reported this week.
The Serbian Ministry of Mines and Energy recently issued Zijin a trial production permit for the processing facilities. The trial production phase would continue until September.
Cukaru Peki forms part of the Timok copper/gold project and comprises the upper and lower zones.
The upper zone is designed to process 3.3-million tonnes of ore a year, producing 91 000 t/y of copper and 2.5 t/y of gold.
The upper zone has reserves of 1.28-million tonnes of copper metal grading 3%, and 81 t of gold metal grading 1.91 g/t. The first mining area would be the super-high grade ore deposit, Zijin stated.
The resource volumes at the lower zone are 14.30-million tonnes of copper metal grading 0.86% and 299 t of gold metal grading 0.18 g/t.