The Timok deposit is located within the central part of TMC, in the Bor District of northeastern Serbia. The project area is approximately five kilometres south of the mining municipality of Bor. The TMC comprises a series of andesitic to dacite-andesitic subvolcanic, volcanic and volcano-sedimentary sequences and plutonic intrusions (mainly monzonite to diorite and granodiorite compositions). The TMC is generally erosionally well-preserved when compared with both the Banat and Panagyurishte segment belts to the north in Romania and to the east in Bulgaria respectively. The largest porphyry and porphyry-epithermal deposits in the Timok segment are represented by the Majdanpek and Bor copper and gold deposits which are hosted within in Upper Cretaceous andesitic volcanic units.

The Cenomanian sedimentary rocks are conformably overlain by volcanic, volcaniclastics and sedimentary units of the Upper Cretaceous TMC. The TMC complex is dominated by Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Campanian) andesitic lavas, lava domes and shallow intrusions, volcaniclastic and epiclastic units and basaltic andesites, volcaniclastics and clastic sedimentary rocks that formed in an extensional rift basin.

The TMC andesite volcanic rocks are typically calc-alkaline in composition. Kolb et al. (2013) describe a geochemical signature similar to adakites, which are commonly associated with porphyry and epithermal copper and copper-gold deposits elsewhere in the world. The western and ........

The recommended strategy for mining the orebody is Sublevel Caving (SLC) method. A sensitivity analysis showed that the selection of this strategy was robust across a wide range of assumptions.

In SLC, mining starts at the top of the orebody and progresses downwards. Mineable resource is extracted from sublevels spaced at regular vertical intervals throughout the deposit. A series of ring patterns are drilled and blasted from the drawpoints on each sublevel; broken mineable resource is mucked from the drawpoints after each ring blast.

SLC is applicable through a wide range of geotechnical conditions, but as with most mining methods it is most efficiently applied in strong rock conditions, making it a relatively easy method to mechanize. This method is normally used in massive, steeply-dipping orebodies with considerable strike length. SLC typically has dilution ranging from 15 to 30% and mining recovery ranging from 80 to 90%, and is dependent on effective management of the SLC operations.

The production rate is a function of the deposit geometry and continuity, the prevailing ground conditions, the number of available stoping areas, and the expected productivity for each stope. The production resources were scheduled to achieve a practical production output. The expected drawpoint productivity has been limited to 260 tonnes per drawpoint per day, based on benchmarking comparable mines. This productivity rate results in annual targets of 3.0 ........

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