Middle Island Resources to Fast-Track Serbian Portfolio After Konstantin Acquisition

Middle Island Resources (ASX: MDI) has entered into a share sale and purchase agreement to acquire private Australian company Konstantin Resources.

Konstantin owns 14 exploration and mining licences along Serbia’s prolific Western Tethyan Belt.

The portfolio comprises the Bobija, Timok and Priboj gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc projects across 620 square kilometres of acreage in an established mining jurisdiction.

World-Class Location

The tenements sit within a world-class location containing giant copper-gold-silver deposits including Zijin Mining’s Cukaru Peki project (with 22.6 million tonnes copper and 17.1 million ounces gold) and recent Malka Golaja discovery (150Mt at 1.9% copper and 0.6 grams per tonne gold).

Adriatic Metals’ (ASX: ADT) Vares project (20.9Mt at 1.1g/t gold, 153g/t silver, 0.4% copper, 2.8% lead and 4.3% zinc), Dundee Precious Metal’s Coka Rakita project (6.6Mt at 6.38g/t gold for 1.4 million ounces), and Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) Jadar project (139Mt at 14.7% boric oxide and 1.8% lithium oxide) are all nearby.

BHP Group (ASX: BHP) also has a presence in the area under an earn-in agreement with Mundoro Capital, through which it will acquire three copper exploration projects in the Timok region.

Fast-Tracking Exploration

On completion of the acquisition, Middle Island will focus on fast-tracking exploration in the immediate vicinity of the Bobija mine with the initial scope of work including detailed channel sampling across outcropping mineralisation exposed in the pit floor.

It will also conduct a staged drilling campaign within the old open pit to confirm the distribution and grade of polymetallic mineralisation at depth.

The company also plans to progress regional exploration activities across the balance of granted exploration licences in the Bobija project area.

Polymetallic Project

The Bobija project comprises six mineral licences and three granted exploration licences at Bobija, Bobija East and Kamenita Kosa, with an additional licence application submitted for Orovica.

The area hosts numerous gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc targets and massive sulphide mineralisation is exposed in the floor of the historic Bobija open pit mine, where Konstantin has previously returned rock chip assays of up to 5.24g/t gold, 89g/t silver, 4.66% zinc, and 4.36% lead.

Best assays have been 45.2m at 1.71g/t gold, 25.5g/t silver, 0.87% lead, and 2.26% zinc from 19.5m, along with 16m at 1.58g/t gold, 83g/t silver, 1.98% lead and 2.29% zinc.

Porphyry Mineralisation

The Timok copper-gold project is located close to the world-class Bor, Majdanpek, and Cukaru Peki mines, where porphyry and associated styles of mineralisation are present.

It comprises one granted exploration licence at Brodica and four exploration licence applications – for Coka Fantina, Brodica West, Majdanpek West, and Majdanpek Pojas – over a total area of 218sqkm.

Konstantin’s Majdanpek West target area, comprising the Majdanpek West and Majdanpek Pojas licence applications, encompasses a part of the Timok Magmatic Complex (TMC).

The TMC hosts the Majdanpek porphyry, skarn and epithermal high-sulphidation copper-gold deposit, as well as the Coka Marin epithermal high sulphidation copper-gold deposits immediately adjacent to the Timok project licences.

Underexplored Discovery

The underexplored Priboj copper discovery comprises three granted exploration licences at Jermovac, Priboj and Ober, within a highly-mineralised corridor that hosts Adriatic’s Vares project to the north-west and Cadinje copper-gold skarn deposit to the south-east.

Middle Island’s exploration program at Priboj will focus on infill soil sampling at the Oglavak and Jelaca prospects where copper-in-soil anomalies have already been defined, and an extensive trenching and rock chip sampling program to identify and define new drilling targets.

The company will also conduct soil sampling at the adjacent Jermovac licence, where exploration has recorded copper-in-soil anomalism from initial wide-spaced sample lines, and assess the potential use of electrical geophysical surveys to test for copper sulphide mineralisation at depth prior to initial drilling.

Unlocking Value

Middle Island non-executive director Daniel Raihani said the company would focus on unlocking significant value from the Serbian projects with a fast-tracked approach.

“Konstantin has accumulated an incredible and prospective portfolio of precious metals and base metals exploration projects in a region known for its exceptional geological endowment,” he said.

“We are now poised to accelerate exploration at these exciting targets, with Serbia and the Balkan region being a world-class geological setting with numerous existing large- scale, high-grade and Tier 1 mines.”

Capital raising

Middle Island has launched a $3.4 million share placement to fast-track exploration across its Australian and Serbian assets.

The company has confirmed it will issue 200 million fully-paid ordinary shares priced at $0.017 each to sophisticated and professional clients of lead manager Cygnet Capital.

Middle Island directors Richie Young  and Brad Marwood have committed a total $110,000 for the issue of approximately 6.85 million placement shares.

Cygnet Capital will receive a fee equating to 6% of total funds raised plus 20 million unlisted options exercisable at $0.04 each within the next three years.