Strickland Metals has revealed a remarkable 23 per cent uplift in the mineral resource at its Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia, bringing the new total to an impressive 6.69 million equivalent ounces of gold.
A big part of the increase has come from a maiden resource estimate at the company’s Medenovac prospect.
Medenovac has proven to be a significant contributor to the project’s total portfolio with a polymetallic resource of 21 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.9 grams per tonne (g/t) for a total of 1.28m ounces of gold equivalent, including gold, copper, zinc, lead and silver.
The deposit was only discovered in late 2020 after a discovery hole into the core returned an eye-popping 352.1-metre hit of continuous gold and base metals mineralisation. The intercept graded at an average of 2.1g/t gold equivalent, including a higher-grade interval of 97.7m grading 5.1g/t gold equivalent.
Further drilling uncovered even more thick, high-grade mineralisation at the heart of the deposit leading to a maiden resource. The exploration cost of just $3 per discovery ounce of gold equivalent is an extraordinarily high return on exploration investment, even by global standards.
Adding even more firepower to the resource’s growth potential, the deposit runs at a super-impressive 6800 gold-equivalent ounces per vertical metre at its core.
Medenovac’s maiden resource was calculated by Perth-based Matrix Resource Consultants and has been designed around an optimised stoping model in the underground mining areas. It uses an assumed metallurgical recovery of 80pc, a long-term gold price of $2250 per ounce and a 1g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade.
The mining plans include smart, near-horizontal underground access from a neighbouring ridge, which will improve the ease of extracting ore and the operation’s cost-effectiveness.
Strickland Metals managing director Paul L'Herpiniere said: “Delivering a maiden resource of almost 1.3m ounces gold equivalent for the Medenovac deposit, with an average grade of 1.9g/t gold equivalent further confirms the quality and scale of the Rogozna project. We also expect to move quickly towards a maiden MRE for Gradina in the second half of the year.”
Strickland is now gearing up for a monster 50,000m diamond core resource-wide drilling campaign that is set to kick off in early March using six rigs across multiple prospects.
The company says it is excited about the potential for another high-grade discovery at Kotlovi, a nearby prospect 350m from Medenovac, where recent drill results have confirmed additional mineralisation.
Beyond Medenovac, the next major resource update is expected next month for its cornerstone Shanac deposit, currently standing at 4.63m equivalent ounces of gold. Any further uplift to this resource could see Rogozna’s global inventory pushed past 7m equivalent ounces of gold, cementing its status as a world-class mining asset.
Strickland Metals is still in rare financial health with $33.8 million in cash and Northern Star shares sitting in the bank as of the December quarter. The fortuitous position allows the company to maintain a generous budget to keep pumping out the exploration drilling metres that will drive resource expansion and feasibility studies.
Strickland Metals appears to be positioning itself as a key player in the global mining sector. The company’s aggressive exploration strategy, combined with a high-grade, scalable resource base, could make 2025 a company-defining year.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By James Pearson
