TNM Drill Down: Dundee in Serbia tops gold assays for year to date 

The Northern Miner has compiled the top 10 drill results year-to-date for major metals, including gold. Here, we present the best gold assays for the year to July 31. Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width.

Drilling from three corners of the world – the Balkans, Canada and Australia – returned the top gold results so far this year. Dundee Precious Metals’ (TSX: DPM) preliminary economic assessment-stage Čoka Rakita project in Serbia had the strongest result. Alamos Gold’s (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) Island mine in Ontario was second. And Southern Cross Gold (TSXV: MAW; ASX: SXG) followed at the Sunday Creek advanced exploration project in Australia.  

 

Dundee’s Čoka Rakita 

Dundee drill hole RIDD052A at Čoka Rakita in Serbia cut 81 metres grading 50.57 grams gold per tonne from 122 metres depth for a width x grade value of 4,096. The result reported Feb. 26 arrived ahead of a PEA in May that forecast the project could produce US$891 million in free cash flow over a 10-year life.  

The proposed 129,000-oz.-per-year mine, 160 km southeast of the capital Belgrade, has an after-tax net present value of US$588 million at a 5% discount and an internal rate of return of 33%, according to the study. The mine could cost US$381 million to build and incur all-in sustaining costs of US$715 per oz. of metal, it showed.  

Dundee, which has been operating in Serbia since 2004, plans a prefeasibility study in the first quarter of next year, construction by mid-2026 and output two years later. It also has the Timok gold project in the Balkan country.  

Čoka Rakita holds 9.8 million inferred tonnes grading 5.7 grams gold per tonne and 1.21 grams silver for 1.8 million oz. gold and 382 million oz. silver, according to an initial resource issued in December.  

The company operates the Chelopech and Ada Tepe gold-copper mines in Bulgaria. It forecasts average production of around 240,000 oz. over the next three years.  

Island Mine 

Alamos drilled 2.9 metres grading 1,389.65 grams gold for a width x grade value of 4,030 from 12.5 metres depth at the Island mine in northern Ontario. 

The company reported the assay from hole 620-595-02 on Feb. 13, 

 a month before Alamos said it was buying Argonaut Gold’s neighbouring Magino mine for US$325 million. It said the acquisition would make it become Canada’s third-largest gold producer at around 630,000 oz. gold per year. 

Magino, only 300 metres away from Island, gives Alamos another producing asset in addition to La Yagui Grande and Mulatos in Mexico and Young-Davidson in Ontario. Alamos plans to use Magino’s larger mill and tailings facilities instead of Island’s and create US$515 million in cost savings over about two decades of production.  

The company achieved a record-free cash flow of US$106.9 million in the second quarter, up more than 300% from the first quarter of 2024. Revenue was US$332.6 million, a 27% year-on-year increase, while adjusted net earnings were US$96.9 million.  

Alamos has the Lynn Lake development project in Manitoba, which received federal environmental approval last year, as well as others in Turkey and Oregon. 

Sunday Creek 

Southern Cross Gold drilled 455.3 metres grading 7.2 grams gold for a width x grade value of 3,278 in hole SDDSC107 at the Sunday Creek project, the company reported on Mar. 5. The intercept started at 335 metres depth. Sunday Creek is located in Victoria state, 60 km north of Melbourne.  

In June, Southern Cross said it was merging with Mawson Gold (TSXV: MAW) which had spun out Southern Cross in 2022, in a deal valued at A$518.8 million ($472 million). It said it was doubling the amount of drilling at Sunday Creek to 60,000 metres.   

The project does not yet have a resource estimate compliant with JORC or National Instrument 43-101 standards. However, Southern Cross has outlined an exploration target of 4.4 million to 5.1 million tonnes with grades of 7.2 to 9.7 grams gold-equivalent for about 1 million oz. to 1.6 million oz. of contained metal. It also expects to recover antimony at the site.