Adriatic Metals BH is the main operating entity of the Adriatic Metals PLC and holds the Vareš Project.
On June 13, 2025, Dundee Precious Metals Inc. announced that it has agreed with Adriatic Metals plc. to the terms of an acquisition of the entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital of Adriatic for an implied equity value of approximately $1.3 billion. Upon completion of the Transaction, DPM will acquire 100% of the Vareš operation.
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Summary:
The Vareš Mine is in a single concession comprising three separate licence areas; one at Rupice in the west and two at Veovaca in the east. Resources and Reserves hosted within the Rupice and Rupice Northwest (RNW) deposits.
The Vareš Mine is situated centrally within the Dinarides deformation belt which runs southeasterly over several hundred kilometres east of and parallel to the Adriatic coastline from Slovenia to Albania.
The geological setting is a very large-scale deformation belt within which Jurrasic, Triassic packages dominated by carbonates and volcano-sedimentary shelf sediment have been thrusted and folded. At Rupice, the Triassic sequence contains layers of iron alteration and one layer in which massive sulphide mineralisation was deposited.
Genetically, the deposit is associated with a shelf zone where volcanic activity generated hydrothermal processes that allowed the scavenging of metals from surrounding crustal material and delivery of this into the submarine environment resulting in formation of a Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposit with associated breccia-hosted mineralisation. Globally, VMS deposits typically include base metals such as copper, zinc, lead and sometimes gold and silver.
The Kuroko sub-type VMS deposits are associated with gypsum (CaSO4) overlying massive sulphides, potentially equivalent to the barite (BaSO4) which is abundant at Rupice and arsenic-antimony bearing sulphosalts such as bournonite-tetrahedrite-stibnite observed in Rupice.
Mineralisation Style
Barite and base metal massive sulphides were originally deposited in a single layer of lenses which were conformable with the enclosing bedding.
Barite is thought by the ADT geology team to have originally formed a cap over the other base metal sulphide layers. The QP agrees this would be in keeping with observations at other similar deposits; also it is clear that barite grades tend to be highest in the stratigraphically higher part of the Rupice deposit.
Copper, lead, zinc and gold grades tend to be highest in the middle part of the mineralised package corresponding with the highest sulphur grade and density values. Iron grades tend to be more elevated towards the base of the package. Silver grades tend to be elevated both at the top and bottom parts of the package with lower grades sometimes distinctly evident in the central part.
The mineralisation geometry was subsequently modified by thrust displacement and associated folding pinching and swelling. This later event caused alteration, recrystallisation of barite and sulphides and it seems likely that there was some remobilisation causing sulphides to migrate towards fold hinges.
Steep faults formed imbricate ramps that wrapped around the silicified ore mass which resulted in deterioration of rock mass quality and increased clay alteration of shales and tuffs in the surrounding host rock.
Mineralogy
The mineralisation is characterised by abundant barite (BaSO4) with base metal sulphides, mainly comprising: sphalerite ((Zn, Fe)S), galena (PbS), minor bournonite (PbCuSbS3), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), pyrite (FeS2), minor tetrahedrite ((Cu, Fe) 12Sb4S13), rare stibnite (Sb2S3) and rare cinnabar (HgS).
The gangue is dominated by calcite, dolomite and siderite with some tuffs and sediments which have sometimes altered to clays.
Rupice Geology And Mineralization
The host rocks at Rupice Main and Rupice Northwest (RNW) include Middle Triassic limestone, dolostone, calcareous and dolomitic marl, and a range of mostly fine-grained siliciclastic rocks including cherty mudstone, mudstone, siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. The main mineralized horizon is a brecciated dolomitic unit that dips at around 50° to the northeast and has been preferentially mineralized with base, precious and transitional metals. The Triassic sequence has been deformed by early-stage ductile shearing and late-stage brittle faulting.
The Rupice Main and RNW polymetallic mineralization consists of sphalerite, galena, barite and chalcopyrite with silver, gold, tetrahedrite, boulangerite, bournonite and pyrite. The majority of the high-grade mineralization is hosted within the brecciated dolomitic unit. The majority of deformation is along shears wrapping about the margins of mineralization. This is consistent with the deposit being within a compressional low angle thrust environment mapped on a regional scale. Thickening of the central portion of the Rupice deposit is considered to be associated with thrust related folding. Mineralized widths of up to 65m true thickness are seen in the central portion of the Rupice deposit. URNW is less deformed than Rupice Main. Differential shearing along the deposits' massive sulphide boundaries appears to have created a large sigmoidal structure which hosts the polymetallic mineralization. Effectively a large lozenge with tapering ends in section-view that gently rolls-over to the west. Rupice Main sits at a stratigraphically higher position than RNW. They are separated by a ferruginous siliceous chert unit (GYD). Rupice and RNW overlap at their strike extremities over an interval of ~80m. The area between Rupice and RNW is referred to as the 'GAP'. In the area of the GAP, both Rupice and RNW lenses transition from massive to semi-massive to disseminated sulphides.
The massive sulphide mineralization at Rupice Main has a defined strike length of 600m, with a maximum true-width thickness of around 65m and a minimum of 0.3m. Mineralization at Rupice still remains open to the northwest. In the existing areas drilled, the up-dip portions of Rupice are yet to be closed-off to the southwest. This presents a significant opportunity for further resource growth at Rupice over its strike length. The massive sulphide mineralization at RNW has a defined strike length of >300m, with a maximum true-width thickness of around 40m and a minimum of 0.4m. The mineralization increases in width, grade and thickness from southeast to northwest. RNW has been drilled to the northern extent of the Rupice Exploitation License boundary. There is no geological reason to believe mineralization does not extend beyond the Exploitation License boundary to the northwest. Adriatic is in process with Zenica-Doboj Canton to secure an Exploration license over land to the northwest of Rupice to confirm extension of the RNW deposit beyond the current Rupice Exploitation license. RNW south-eastward narrows with increasing base metal content, higher grades, elevation in copper and gold values, and a reduction in barium content.