Zijin Mining’s wholly owned subsidiary, Čukaru Peki Copper and Gold Mine of Serbia Zijin Mining Doo, has entered trial production stage after receiving permission from Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy.
Mining and processing project of Upper Zone of Čukaru Peki mine in Serbia is designed to process 3.3mn mt of ore annually. Around 91,000mt of copper and 2.5mt of gold is expected to be produced per annum after production begins.
The project’s construction of processing facility is completed and trial production and operations are running at optimum levels, according to the company release. All results from the trial period will be submitted to Serbia’s Ministry of Mining before September.
The Čukaru Peki Copper and Gold Mine is a super large copper and gold mine divided in Upper Zone and Lower Zone. Reserves at the Upper Zone are 128mn mt of copper metal grading 3pc on an average. The Lower Zone are 14.30mn mt of copper metal grading averaged at 0.86pc.
Serbia is set to become Europe’s second largest copper producer once the Čukaru Peki mine officially begins operations. The operations were slated to begin in the first half of 2021 but now pushed back to the end of the year until it reaches 135,000mt of copper a year.
Currently, Zijin’s local subsidiary operates Serbia’s sole copper complex RTB Bor and recently announced on plans of ramping up copper production.