Seventeen more wells around old barite mine in Bobija – Australian company to start second phase of mining

Australian mining company Middle Island Resources Limited has started a new phase of exploration work at the Bobija project near Ljubovija, with the aim of confirming and expanding existing knowledge about polymetallic deposits and assessing their development potential.

According to the latest company statement, the central part of this phase is a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program, which includes 17 wells with a total length of up to 1,500 meters. The drilling is being carried out in the area of the old Bobija mine, where previous research has already confirmed the presence of gold, silver, lead, zinc and copper.

In parallel with the drilling, wider soil sampling is continuing at the surrounding sites of Tisovik, Crvena Stena and Kozila, where significant geochemical anomalies, primarily for lead and zinc, have already been identified, over several kilometers.

As a reminder, Middle Island Resources last fall became the owner of 14 mineral exploration licenses in Serbia covering as much as 62,000 hectares, acquiring 100% ownership of the Australian company Konstantin Resources Limited, which held exploration licenses in three main project areas – Bobija, Priboj and Timok.

The Bobija project, which the new owner announced that it would focus on first, covers a total of 20,800 hectares, and the company announced in October last year that it had started its first drilling program.

The exploration results so far show promising potential at Bobija: at the old barite mine and surrounding areas, earlier samples registered up to 5.24 g/t gold and 89–120 g/t silver. Channel sampling also showed longer intervals of mineralization, e.g. 46m with about 1.07 g/t gold and 91.5 g/t silver, indicating the continued presence of precious metals. At Tisovik, which is part of a wider area, soil sampling recorded anomalies with values up to 2,733 ppm (parts per million) of lead and 899 ppm of zinc.

These findings build on previously known historical data from Bobija, where surface samples and old drilling in a former barite mine several decades ago indicated the presence of precious and base metals, and MDI reported that gold was literally oozing from the old mine and compared the Bobija deposit to the Vares mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

B. P.

Middle Island Resources Limited

Bobija

Bobija prospect

Tisovik

Crvena stena

Kozilo

ore exploration

drilling

gold and silver exploration