In the upper zone of the Chukar Peka deposit near Bor, 44.7 million tonnes of ore with high copper content and associated gold and silver content have been certified, said Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic.
The minister said that the Chinese company Zidjin is intensively working on a project to open the Chukar Peka mine, whose construction could begin in 2020 and exploitation in the second half of 2021.
He says the opening of the Chukar Peka Mine is one of Serbia’s priorities in the mining field, for Zidjin.
– The big news is that we have signed a decision on the establishment and certification of ore reserves at the Chukar Peka site, in the upper zone the reserves have been certified at about 44.7 million tonnes of ore with high copper content and associated gold and silver content – said Antic for Srbija Danas.
He adds that the certification of the reserve allows Zidjin to continue activities to open the Chukar Peka mine in 2020.
– We expect the beginning of the mine opening work in 2020, and the first copper exploitation in the second half of 2021. With this new copper production, Serbia will be in a position to increase significantly the impact of mining on GDP. Our estimates are very optimistic and we expect that in the next few years, mining will grow from the current two percent of GDP to some four to five percent – said Antic.
The Minister added that this will make a great contribution to the overall development of the Serbian economy, writes Srbija Danas.
Source: srbijadanas.com