Canadians and Australians join forces in hunting for Serbian gold – Investors approve merger of Electrum and MinRex

The Canadian company Electrum Discovery Corp, which is developing gold and copper exploration projects near Bosilegrad and Bor in Serbia, has received almost unanimous support from investors to merge with Australian MinRex Resources Ltd, a key step towards forming a new international mining company. MinRex is a small exploration mining company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, focusing on gold, copper and other metals in Australia.

The agreement to merge the two companies was reached at the beginning of the year. At an extraordinary general meeting held on March 24, 2026, as many as 99.99% of the votes were in favor of the proposed transaction, which met all the necessary conditions for the continuation of the agreement. This is a so-called “merger of equals,” although, according to the ownership structure, the existing shareholders of MinRex will have a slight majority in the new company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Electrum shareholders will receive shares in MinRex at a pre-defined exchange ratio, whereby upon closing, they will own approximately 49.3% of the combined company, while the remaining 50.7% will belong to current MinRex shareholders. It is also envisaged for all existing options and similar financial instruments of Electrum to be converted into shares in MinRex.

The transaction is expected to close in early April, subject to final court approval and regulatory approval. Upon completion, Electrum will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MinRex, and its shares will be delisted from the stock exchanges where they are currently traded.

The new company will have a market value of approximately AUD 28 million, which places it among small mining explorers. By comparison, large mining systems present in Serbia, such as Zijin Mining Group, are valued in the billions of dollars, clearly indicating that this is a company that is still in the early stages of development and focused primarily on exploration, not exploitation.

The significance of this merger for Serbia is primarily reflected in the potential for accelerating exploration. Electrum’s entry into a larger and more capital-stable company could bring more funds for further geological exploration and increase the chances that projects like Tlamino and Timok will move to the next stages of development. At the same time, as part of an international company, these projects become more visible to global investors.

However, this is still an early stage, so there is no guarantee that the exploration will lead to the opening of a mine. Future development of the projects will depend on the strategic decisions of the new, merged company, as well as market conditions and the results of further exploration in Serbia.

Electrum has two exploration projects in Serbia, covering a total of 645 km2 - in addition to the East Timok project near Bor on 123 km2, they also have the Novo Tlamino project in southeast Serbia near Bosilegrad, covering as much as 522 km2.

Tlamino has inferred mineral resources of approximately 670,000 ounces of gold equivalent, with an average grade of 2.9 grams per ton. The project has already been included in a preliminary economic analysis, while additional exploration drilling is planned in the next phase to increase resources, particularly in the Barje deposit zone.

The Timok Istok project also has significant exploration potential, a copper-gold deposit located within the Western Tethys belt, near the Zijin Bor mining complex, one of the most significant ones in the region.

The company announced a year and a half ago that it had discovered a promising copper-gold anomaly in that region, approximately five kilometers from the Veliki Krivelj deposit.

The anomaly, called Bambino, is up to 550 meters long and more than 100 meters wide, with copper in the soil ranging from 500–8238 ppm (parts per million) and rock chips samples showing 2.85% to 0.32% copper, as well as up to 203 ppb (parts per billion) gold. Bambino was soon extended to 1.8 kilometers, and subsequent exploration revealed two parallel gold anomalies, 600 meters and a kilometer in length.

As the company announced in October 2024, high-grade copper and gold mineralization was also identified 3 kilometers north of the Bambino deposit. Tests confirmed a content of 3.35 to as much as 14.2 g/t gold, while rocks containing both copper and gold showed samples of 4.93 g/t gold and 0.57% copper, or 2.62 g/t gold and 1.21% copper. Previously unidentified silver potential was also discovered, ranging from 9 to 71 g/t.

Let us remind that Electrum (formerly Medgold Resources) recently appeared as an applicant for metal exploration in Kosmaj, at the Stojnik site. This is stated in the Draft Spatial Plan of the Special Purpose Area for Avala and Kosmaj, which states that the Ministry of Mining and Energy has approved the execution of geological exploration of mineral resources. The Ministry then announced that no mines were planned to be opened in the Avala and Kosmaj areas.

B. P.

Electrum Discovery Corp

MinRex Resources Ltd

Timok East

Novo Tlamino

Bambino

Barje

merger

gold and copper projects in Serbia