Strickland Metals receives $5m investment from Zijin Mining to accelerate Rogozna gold project in Serbia

Strickland Metals (ASX: STK) has attracted the financial support of one of the world’s largest mining groups for its plans to accelerate the development of the Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia.

The company has received a binding commitment from Chinese firm Zijin Mining Group to raise $5 million by way of a strategic non-brokered private placement.

The investment will see Zijin take up an approximately 2.4% stake in Strickland, with the company planning to allocate part of the investment to its Yandal project in Western Australia.

Major Serbian presence

Zijin is a major player in Serbia, where it currently operates the world-class Čukaru Peki copper and gold mine and the Bor copper and gold mine, with stated combined resources of 34 million tonnes of copper and 29 million ounces of gold.

Zijin’s Serbian operations produced approximately 300,000t of copper and 250,000oz of gold in 2024, with expansion works in progress.

The news comes just days after Strickland reported that a sixth diamond rig had commenced drilling at Rogozna in a program aimed at extending and infilling the Gradina deposit.

Exploration has identified multiple high-grade gold lodes at Gradina with more than 1,000 metres of strike and 900m of vertical extent.

Rogozna potential validated

Strickland managing director Paul L’Herpiniere said the strategic Zijin placement validates the quality and potential of Rogozna.

“While Strickland was not seeking to raise equity capital at current share prices, the significant benefits of bringing Zijin onto the Strickland share register far outweigh the small dilutionary impact of this strategic placement,” Mr L’Herpiniere said.

“This strategic placement provides a strong financial platform for Strickland to accelerate its largest-ever exploration program at Rogozna.”

Drilling programs

The company’s next phase of exploration and resource growth at Rogozna will include approximately 20,000m of drilling at Gradina to support a maiden mineral resource estimate the company has targeted for release in late 2025.

Strickland is also preparing to undertake approximately 30,000m of resource- and discovery-focused drilling across the wider Rogozna project.

This will include the Shanac and Medenovac deposits and the Jezerska Reka, Obradov Potok and Kotlovi prospects.

The activities will also support scoping study-related work, which is expected to be completed by late 2025.