Serbia’s Mining Pipeline Expands Across Gold, Copper and Critical Minerals

Serbia’s mining sector is developing a broader project pipeline, with gold deposits advancing toward feasibility, copper exploration attracting international capital, established mines expanding capacity and critical-mineral projects progressing through technical and permitting stages.

Projects including Strickland Metals’ Rogozna, DPM Metals’ Čoka Rakita, BHP-backed exploration in Timok, Zijin Mining’s Bor operations, Boron One’s Piskanja, Middle Island Resources’ western Serbia portfolio and Rio Tinto’s Jadar project now span exploration, feasibility, construction preparation and brownfield expansion. The projects differ significantly in scale and maturity, but development decisions increasingly depend on mine design, processing technology, recovery rates, infrastructure requirements and the conversion of mineral resources into economically developable reserves.

Rogozna advances toward an initial mine

At the Rogozna project in southern Serbia, Strickland Metals is assessing a first-stage development centred on the Gradina deposit. The company has outlined a conceptual operation capable of processing approximately 2.5 million tonnes of ore annually and producing up to 150,000 ounces of gold, or about 4.7 tonnes, per year. This remains a development scenario rather than a production forecast.

Gradina contains an Inferred resource of about 1.8 million ounces of gold grading 2.8 grams per tonne, while the wider Rogozna system contains approximately 9.25 million ounces of gold-equivalent resources. Strickland is targeting a pre-feasibility study in 2027. Further resource conversion is required before the deposit can support mine design, reserves and financing. The company could use Gradina as an initial production centre while retaining the larger Shanac deposit for a potential later phase, creating a staged development approach for the broader Rogozna system.

Čoka Rakita moves toward construction

DPM Metals is further along the development cycle with its Čoka Rakita project in eastern Serbia. The project has probable reserves of approximately 7.34 million tonnes grading 6.44 g/t gold. Its current development plan includes an 850,000-tonne-per-year processing plant, with average production of around 189,000 ounces of gold annually during the first five full years.

Construction is targeted for 2027, subject to permitting and a final investment decision, while first concentrate is planned for H1 2029. DPM is also evaluating additional mineral potential around the project. Drilling at nearby Dumitru Potok has produced copper-gold intersections including approximately 246 metres grading 1.36% copper-equivalent. The wider Rakita Camp contains about 84.4 million tonnes averaging 0.97 g/t gold and 1.02% copper, providing a potential basis for a broader gold and copper mining complex around infrastructure developed for Čoka Rakita.

BHP expands Timok exploration

At an earlier stage of the mining cycle, BHP is funding a major greenfield exploration programme through its cooperation with Mundoro Capital. The combined exploration portfolios give BHP exposure to more than 800 square kilometres in and around Serbia’s Timok copper-gold belt. The Central Timok project alone covers approximately 418 square kilometres and includes more than 20 exploration targets.

The exploration programmes use induced-polarisation surveys, electromagnetics, magnetic data, passive seismic techniques and deeper drilling to investigate concealed porphyry and epithermal systems. The work is targeting deposits that may occur beneath cover or at greater depth, where conventional surface exploration can be less effective. No economic discovery has been established through the current programmes, leaving the work focused on exploration and the identification of potential future deposits.

Zijin increases capacity at existing Serbian mines

Zijin Mining is operating at a different stage, with established copper production in Serbia and plans to increase capacity through further mining, processing and infrastructure investment. Its Serbian operations produced close to 300,000 tonnes of mined copper in 2025, while longer-term plans envisage combined capacity approaching 450,000 tonnes annually.

The expansion requires investment beyond the orebody itself, including additional flotation capacity, underground haulage, shafts, conveyors, electrical systems, water recycling and waste-management infrastructure. Development of the deeper Lower Zone at Čukaru Peki is particularly capital-intensive, requiring substantial underground infrastructure and additional processing capacity. The expansion also generates demand for mining and industrial equipment and services, including automation, power systems, ventilation, pumps, milling, flotation, process control, environmental monitoring and maintenance.

Piskanja tests boron processing performance

Boron One’s Piskanja project represents a smaller-scale critical-mineral development model. The underground boron project depends on processing efficiency and product quality. Recent test work produced commercial-grade colemanite concentrate from material designed to replicate future run-of-mine feed, including expected waste-rock dilution. The testing provides a basis for assessing processing performance using material intended to resemble operating feed rather than selected high-grade samples.

Boron One is also drilling across the wider Jarandol Basin to determine whether Piskanja forms part of a larger borate system. Additional resources could potentially support shared mining and processing infrastructure. Boron is used in specialty glass, ceramics, insulation, fertilisers and advanced industrial materials, giving the Piskanja project a position within Serbia’s broader critical-minerals pipeline.

Middle Island targets western Serbia

Australia’s Middle Island Resources is expanding exploration outside Serbia’s established eastern mining districts through a portfolio covering more than 600 square kilometres across Priboj, Bobija and Timok. The projects remain at an early exploration stage, although work has identified copper and gold anomalies. At Jelaca near Priboj, a copper anomaly extends approximately 900 metres by 400 metres, with selected rock samples grading up to 3.21% copper. Gold targets are also being investigated at Zabrnjica, Beli Potok and Bobija. None of these targets has yet been established as a mineral resource. Exploration is continuing through geochemical, geophysical and drilling programmes.

Jadar remains in care and maintenance

Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium-borates project represents another stage of the development pipeline.

The project is currently in care and maintenance, with Rio Tinto maintaining assets and preserving the option to reactivate development while limiting near-term capital expenditure. Jadar differs from early-stage exploration projects because its resource is already defined. Its development position instead depends on market, permitting and investment conditions and the capital required to advance the project. The project therefore remains a large-scale lithium-borates asset within Serbia’s mining pipeline without current new development capital being committed.

Projects advance at different stages

Serbia’s mining pipeline now includes projects at markedly different stages.

DPM Metals is preparing for potential construction at Čoka Rakita, while Strickland Metals is advancing the Rogozna discovery toward a mine concept.

Zijin Mining is expanding an established copper-producing complex, while BHP and Middle Island Resources are conducting exploration for potential future deposits.

Boron One is developing the technical case for Piskanja, while Rio Tinto continues to maintain Jadar in care and maintenance. Across these projects, development requirements increasingly centre on combining mineral resources with processing technology, infrastructure and financing capable of supporting commercially viable mining operations.