Dundee aims for maiden gold resource at Coka Rakita
Dundee Precious Metals Inc. [TSX-DPM] President and CEO David Rae said he is excited about the potential of the company’s Coka Rakita project in Serbia.
Subsequent to a January 2023, news release announcing the high-grade discovery at Coka Rakita, the company recently said drilling activities were accelerated with seven drill rigs in operation.
“Our infill and extensional drilling programs at the Coka Rakita project area advancing well, and we are on track to deliver the maiden mineral resource estimate for the project before the end of 2023,’’ Rae said in a press release that included the company’s third quarter financial results.
The Coka Rakita prospect is located three kilometres southeast of the Bigar Hill sediment-hosted gold deposit and forms part of the Timok Magmatic Complex in eastern Serbia. The surface footprint of the target was delineated by a combination of soil geochemistry, alteration mapping and geophysical signatures. The company said drilling to date has defined a manto-like zone of shallow-dipping gold-rich skarn mineralization located on the contact zone of a carbonaceous sedimentary package of fertile diorite intrusives.
On Wednesday, Dundee shares eased 6.25% or 60 cents to $8.99. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $10.78 and $5.98.
Dundee is a Canadian-based international gold mining company with operations located in Bulgaria, Namibia, Ecuador and Serbia. The company has said it expects to produce 245,000 to 290,000 ounces of gold and 26 million to 31 million pounds of copper in 2023.
Its operations include the Chelopech underground gold-copper mine in central western Bulgaria, the Ada Tepe open pit gold mine in southern Bulgaria and the development stage Timok gold project in Serbia.
The Tsumeb specialty smelter in Namibia processes concentrates from the Chelopech operation, which produced 44,463 ounces of gold in the third quarter, a 6.0% decrease from the third quarter of 2022. Ada Tepe produced 33,822 ounces of gold in the third quarter, a 62% increase from year ago levels.
With solid operating performance from the Chelopech and Ada Tepe mines in the third quarter and first nine months of 2023, DPM is on track to meet its 2023 guidance for both its mining operations, including expected gold production of 270,000 to 315,000 ounces, copper production of 30 to 35 million pounds, and all-in-sustaining cost of US$700 to US$860 per ounce of gold sold.
Rae said the record quarterly performance from Ada Tepe enabled the company to generate $180 million of free cash flow year-to-date, a number that demonstrates the quality of the company’s assets and strength of its operating teams.
Dundee said it completed an investment production agreement for the Loma Largo project in Ecuador and advanced permitting for a 69 kV power line.
Dundee said it will continue to progress the updated feasibility study beyond the previously stated timeline ending in 2023 to pursue additional optimization opportunities and potentially incorporate the results of drilling once these activities are able to resume.