Domestic Mines Holding Around 700 Tons of Gold More – 30 Companies Currently Exploring Throughout Serbia

The data of the World Gold Council reveal that, so far, on the entire planet, around 210,000 tons of gold has been excavated, and that only a fourth of that remains hidden underground. It is estimated that, of that amount, around 700 tons more is present in Serbian mines. Companies from the whole world are constantly looking for new reserves, and many of them have been looking for the mother lode in Serbia for a long time now. According to the data of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, at the moment, 31 companies are doing applied geological explorations of gold and the accompanying metals in the territory of Serbia. That is nearly twice as many as a year ago.

– Gold most often occurs along with copper, and the exploitation of the ore, which, among other things, produces gold, is done by three companies – they say at the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

– According to the balance of the mineral resources as of the end of 2022, prepared by the Institute of Geology of Serbia, the confirmed reserves of copper, gold and accompanying metal ores amount to a total of 1.7 billion tons. We have a similar quantity of gold as the surrounding countries.

Professor Dr. Rade Jelenkovic of the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade, says that Serbia is rich with gold in the rank of neighboring countries, such as Bulgaria and Romania.

– The data about the total estimated quantity of gold mineral resources in Serbia vary. They range from 625 to over 750 tons. In the copper sites that are being exploited, there are over 350 tons. The remaining quantities pertain to the sites where gold is the main mining component. A part of them is geologically explored, whereas in others, which used to be exploited, the exploitation stopped mostly due to the difficult conditions, small quantities of ore reserves and other reasons – says professor Jelenkovic.

As the interviewee explains, the economically very significant quantities of gold which are exploited lie in the copper sites in east Serbia, the biggest of which are Majdanpek and Bor, as well as the newly detected site of global proportions Cukaru Peki. Unlike the mineral resources, the gold ore reserves are the estimated quantities of gold for which technical efficiency and economic effectiveness are proven, but for which ecological acceptability of exploitation isn’t.

It is believed that, of the total quantity of the mineral gold resources in the copper sites of Serbia, at the moment, it is possible to exploit around 215 tons of gold, that is, that this is precisely the quantity of the gold ore reserves.

Professor Jelenkovic says that the annual production of gold from the copper sites in Serbia is 1.2 to 2 tons, whereas, in the previous years, it would amount to up to 5 tons. Considerably larger mineral resources of gold and a higher volume of production come from the sites and mines located in the territory of Turkey, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden… In 2020, the gold sites of Turkey produced around 38 tons of gold, Bulgaria produced 10 tons, Finland 13.5 tons, Sweden 8.1 tons…

Georgi Hristov of Tavex, a company which deals with investment gold, also adds that the biggest producer of gold in the world is China, which produces around 330 tons a year. It is followed by Australia and Russia, which produce around 320 tons a year each. Next on the list is Canada, with around 220 tons, and then America, which produces around 170 tons a year.

– Of the total quantity of gold in circulation in the world, around 96,000 tons are in the form of jewelry, around 47,000 tons of gold is kept as investment gold, central banks hold around 36,000 tons of gold in their vaults, and the remaining 30,000 tons is used for industrial, medical and other purposes – concludes Hristov.

Tavex zlato&srebro d.o.o. Beograd

Rudarsko geološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Geološki zavod Srbije

Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia

Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade

Institute of Geology of Serbia

Rade Jelenković

Tavex

Georgi Hristov

gold explorations

copper ore