Precious and base metals developer Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) has bolstered the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Rupice silver-zinc-lead-gold deposit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, increasing the indicated tonnes by 93%.
The $992.02 million market capitalisation company reports the new MRE now stands at 21.1 million tonnes @ 156g/t silver, 1.2g/t gold, 4.3% zinc, 2.8% lead, 0.4% copper, and 27% barium sulphate (BaSO4) for 105 million ounces of silver, 789,000 ounces of gold, 913,000 tonnes of zinc, 581,000 tonnes of lead, 88,000 tonnes of copper, and 39,000 tonnes of antimony.
The Rupice deposit lies within Adriatic’s Vares Silver Project.
This updated indicated and inferred MRE for Rupice was prepared by AMC and was informed by 207 diamond drillholes completed across 51,228m from mid-2022 to May 2023. This drilling defined a strike length of more than 600m and an across-strike width of more than 350m.
The updated MRE also includes the first public resource disclosure for the new Rupice Northwest (RNW) discovery, which was delineated from the results of 80 diamond drillholes completed across 25,708m from 2021 to May 2023.
Adriatic reports the updated MRE for Rupice will underpin an updated ore reserve estimate, which will include new metallurgical testwork, mining studies, and the inclusion of RNW in the life-of-mine (LOM) plan.
The company says exploration drilling is also continuing to identify further ‘high-grade’ mineralisation at both Rupice and RNW that is not currently reported in the MRE inventory for Rupice.
Meanwhile, Adriatic says Vares is fully funded, with offtake agreements and transport logistics in place, and notes construction is progressing, with first concentrate production planned for Q4 2023.
Commenting on the updated MRE, Adriatic Metals Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Paul Cronin says: “Rupice is an exceptionally high-grade, silver-rich, polymetallic deposit, and the recent exploration program has materially increased the resources.
“The updated MRE reaffirms the world-class nature of the deposit”
The updated MRE reaffirms the world-class nature of the deposit, and the increase in tonnes and contained metal since the 2020 resource demonstrates the potential for significant growth in both reserves and life-of-mine, offering substantial development optionality to increase near-term metal production.
Excitingly, Rupice and RNW remain open, and we will continue with an aggressive exploration program throughout 2023 that is expected to add significant further resources and position Adriatic as one of the leading base and precious metals developers in Europe. This exploration program will run concurrently with the construction of the Vares Project that is targeting first production of concentrate in November.”
Adriatic Metals is a UK-based precious and base metals developer that holds the Vares Silver Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Raska zinc deposit in Serbia.
A Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) completed in 2021 demonstrated Vares had a post-tax net present value (NPV) of US$1.062 billion, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 134%, and a capital expenditure of US$168 million.
As of 30 June 2023, Adriatic had US$85.602 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report published on 24 July 2023.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: Adriatic Metals
