On June 16, Zijin Mining announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Serbia Zijin Mining Co., Ltd., has recently received the trial production permit for the beneficiation facility issued by the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Serbia, and has entered the trial production phase of the Chukalu-Paiji Copper and Gold Mine beneficiation project.
The mining and beneficiation project of the upper Chukalu-Paige copper-gold belt is designed to process 3.3 million tons of ore annually and is expected to produce 91,000 tons of copper and 2.5 tons of gold annually after putting into operation. At present, the construction of the beneficiation facilities of the project has been completed, and the pilot production operation, project finishing and greening are being fully promoted. It is planned to complete all the work of the pilot production phase before September this year and submit it to the Ministry of Mining for acceptance, realizing a smooth transition from mine infrastructure to production and operation.
The Chukalu-Paiji copper-gold deposit in Serbia is a super large copper-gold deposit wholly owned by Zijin Mining, which is divided into upper ore belt and lower ore belt. The upper ore belt has resource reserves of 1.28 million tons of copper with an average grade of 3%, and 81 tons of gold with an average grade of 1.91 g/ton. The first mining section is an ultra-high grade orebody with an annual peak production of 135,000 tons of copper and 6.1 tons of gold. The lower ore belt contains 14.3 million tons of copper with an average grade of 0.86% and 299 tons of gold with an average grade of 0.18 g/ton, which is in the feasibility study stage.
In September 2018, Zijin Mining acquired a 63% stake in RTB Bor Group, a state-owned Serbian company, for $350 million (about 2.398 billion yuan). Four copper mines, including Majdanpek (MS), Veliki Krivelj (VK), New Cerovo (NC) and Jama (JM), and one smelter, have been acquired. The reserves of copper shall be 10.12 million tons @0.40%, and gold shall be 360 tons @0.14 g/ton. In 2020, mineral copper shall be 52,000 tons, of which electrolytic copper shall be 46,900 tons. Zijin Mining is undergoing technical upgrading and expansion. After completion, the mine will produce 120,000 tons of copper and smelting 180,000 tons of copper annually.
In the same month, Zijin Mining acquired a 100% stake in Nevsun Resources for C $1.84 billion ($1.39 billion, 9.53 billion yuan), acquiring a 60% interest in the Bisha copper-zinc project in Eritrea, Africa, and the Timok copper-gold project in Serbia (the upper belt Resources are high-grade copper-gold and gold, 100% equity; The lower belt is a large porphyry copper deposit with a 60.4% interest through Rakita, which may eventually be diluted to 46%.) Two flagship projects with a combined 27 exploration rights in Serbia, Eritrea and Macedonia.
In November 2019, Zijin Europe, a subsidiary of Zijin Mining, acquired Cuau International, which is owned by Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation, for an initial purchase price of $240 million 72% of the Class B shares of Holdings (BVI) Ltd., resulting in Freeport Exploration's interest in the Timok copper and gold underbelt and Rakita's interest in exploration rights; Upon the start-up of the Timok Copper and Gold Underbelt, Zijin Europe will pay Freeport Exploration four ‰ (0.4%) per annum of net smelting proceeds for a cumulative total of not more than US $150 million. After this transaction, Zijin Mining Company holds 100% of the interest in the upper and lower mining resources of Timok Copper and Gold Mine. Soon after, Rakita, the operator of the Timok project, changed its name to Serbia Zijin Mining Co., Ltd., and the mine was named Chukalu-Peki (Č Ukaru Peki).
