Strickland Metals boosts Serbian play with maiden 1.2Moz Gradina gold resource
- Doug Bright
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Strickland Metals (ASX: STK) has added another serious string to its bow in Serbia, unveiling an impressive maiden gold resource of 1.2 million ounces at the company’s Gradina deposit.
The new resource weighs in at a hefty 12 million tonnes grading 3 grams per tonne (g/t), which hikes the company’s aggregate resource inventory across its Rogozna gold and base metals project by 16 per cent to a chunky 8.6 million ounces of gold equivalent.
The company says the new ounces not only boost the overall project scale but also materially upgrade the quality of the entire inventory, with its 3g/t average gold grade really jumping off the page.
At an overall discovery cost of only US$10 (A$15) per ounce, Gradina’s impressive maiden resource represents a solid return on exploration investment.
Delivering a maiden Resource of 1.2Moz Au for the Gradina Deposit, with an average grade of 3.0g/t Au, is an outstanding result which reinforces the quality and scale of the Rogozna project. Recent drilling at Gradina has delivered some exceptional intercepts of high-grade, gold-dominant mineralisation across the length of the deposit, underpinning a substantial maiden MRE at a discovery cost of just $US10/oz.
Strickland Metals Managing Director Paul L’Herpiniere
With its impressive 3100 ounces of gold per vertical metre, the deposit is perfectly oriented for long-hole open stoping.
This low-cost mining method typically involves drilling long holes upwards into the orebody from lower mine levels, blasting the rock in stages and allowing the broken ore to fall to lower levels, effectively using gravity to drop the mined ore to a single collection point.
The resource has already been optimised employing an underground mining model that assumes a US$2500 (A$3775) per ounce gold price at a 1.5g/t gold cut-off grade, which yields ample profit margin, especially in light of the current booming gold price of more than US$4200 (A$6300) per ounce.
Potential access for mining from adits – horizontal drives to intersect ore zones at various depths, entered from the eastern side of a hill flanking the project – could also simplify the long-hole open stope approach and direct ore haulage away from the mine.
Mineralisation at this stage remains open in all directions. Strickland says several new areas will be the focus of exploration drilling in the new year, including an untested or only thinly tested 10m to 23m-wide “gap zone” between the two major resource blocks.
Other areas considered for additional work include extensions to both the north and south from known mineralisation and also at depth, where mineralisation remains open below the limits of current drilling for about 800m along strike.
Drilling is ongoing at Rogozna, with two rigs already boring the tantalising gap zone and three more exploring further afield within the project area.
Next steps for the company include a resource update for the company’s flagship Shanac deposit, slated for delivery early in the new year.
Strickland remains well-funded to continue its exploration and resource development drilling and further evaluations into the new year, with combined cash and liquid assets at the end of September sitting at a very handy $41.8 million.
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